Menagerie Manor

By Gerald Durrell

Most children at the tender age of six or so are generally full of the most impractical schemes for becoming policemen, firemen or engine drivers when they grow up . . . I knew exactly what I was going to do: I was going to have my own zoo.

Menagerie Manor is the hugely entertaining account of how the much-loved conservationist and author Gerald Durrell fulfilled his lifelong ambition by founding his own private sanctuary for endangered species in Jersey with the help of an enduring wife, a selfless staff and a reluctant bank manager. With a foreword by Lee Durrell, Honorary Director of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, this book about the trials and wonders of living in the middle of a zoo is a classic that will continue to bring pleasure to those who grew up reading Durrell, and deserves a whole new readership.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan
• Release date: Dec 16, 2011
• ISBN: 9781447214205

Gerald Durrell

<p><b>Gerald Durrell</b> was a naturalist and author of memoirs based on his life with — and love for — animals. He founded the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Durrell Wildlife Park on the isle of Jersey.</p>

Reviews for Menagerie Manor

[reading_fox · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

One of his best.The animals are the star of the show. Written 5 years after the initial founding of the Durrell Preservation Trust, this covers the initial set-up and a highlights a few of the key animal personalities that make living in a zoo such a fascinating experience.From settling in a newly aquired creature, dealing with it's various illnesses and temprements to finding a mate and raising the young, all the problems joys and incidents are crafted with Gerald's light touch and irrepresible humour. The illustrations of the various animals are also delightful. Each chapter is headed by an exert from a the bagfulls of post the Trust recieves, often unintensionally hillarious.There is mention of Gerald's first wife Jaquie - which surprised me because she doens't feature much in the earlier books, and I wasn't aware he had been previously married before he met Lee as recounted in some later works. I don't think he allowed any personnal disagreements space in his writings.Short but immensly enjoyable, full of Gerald's devotion to the forna around him and the imperitive requirement of preserving it for the future.