THE DURRELLS OF CORFU

By Michael Haag Profile Books, £8.99

THE Durrell family and their hilariously wild adventures in Corfu have been immortalised in print, most famously in Gerald Durrell’s classic memoir My Family And Other Animals, and on screen, most recently in ITV’s The Durrells. But who were the real-life Durrells?

For his new biography, written with the blessing of the family, author Michael Haag gained access to maps, diaries, letters, unpublished autobiographical fragments, letters and unseen photographs.

He reshapes the story of this extraordinary family by unearthing new facts and offering fresh insights into their lives and loves.

He starts by exploring the life of matriarch Louisa, portraying a richer, more interesting character than the long-suffering mother living in “happy anarchy” with her brood on the Greek island.

Born and bred in British-ruled India, she led a rich and vibrant life as an Anglo-Asian colonialist.

She married engineer Samuel Lawrence in 1910 and two years later gave birth to their first son Lawrence, later an award-winning author.

Although the death of her second child Margery at four months old cast a shadow over her life, she went on to have another three children, Leslie, Margaret and Gerald.

Their father Samuel has always been a footnote to the Durrell family’s story but Haag reveals his incredible achievements such as helping to build a railway which transformed Burma.

The family’s period in India is just as fascinating as their lives in Corfu.

Haag vividly evokes the time and the place with sumptuous descriptions, transporting readers to a magical, mystical and exotic bygone era of colonial