The biography gave

Those who read at least one of his books will not say any more than one of his books than the very name of the author. And yet - who is he? Gerald Darrell is a naturalist, a zoologist, a tireless fighter for the salvation of disappearing species, but for most who know him, he is primarily a writer. Despite the fact that today he is not with us, he still remains an unsurpassed optimist among animalists and an unsurpassed animalist among optimists.

He manages, it would seem, impossible. Any living creature can become his hero, literally from an ant to the elephant. But the most amazing thing is that in every animal he sees a unique character. Yes, there is no dispute, he sometimes humanizes animals, but does it so skillfully, with such a brilliant sense of humor that the reader does not even think of looking for some kind of catch.

You start to perceive animals in life like that. This is the great power of his literature.

What is this book about? This is a book about freedom. Yes, nothing surprising. After all, this is a book about a family in which everyone found himself in their favorite business. While her author made acquaintances with all kinds of representatives of a running, crawling, floating and flying tribe, his brother Lawrence devoted himself to the persecution of writers' muses, and the other brother of Leslie ...

However, what to tell everything in advance when you yourself learn everything from the first. This book reveals to us directly the idyllic world of the Greek island of Corfu. The islands on which it seems, no one knows the Damoklov swords hanging over you, on which our life is so generous with you. The islands of the sunny and serene, who did not yet know the dubious benefits of civilization.

This is a book about friendship. Maybe the island of Corfu, on which the entire action of the trilogy takes place, is really unique in everything, as its inhabitants believe and loves to mention the author. But only it is unlikely to be able to count many stories, and even more so, autobiographical trilogs, on the pages of which you would not meet a single drama, not a single betrayal, no enmity and no enemies.

What other roof could a common language find a brilliant young scientist and a taxi driver, an old -fashioned teacher and an old slutty captain? Already only because of such an intricate, very life of the created list of characters, it would be interesting to read this book. But, of course, the main thing is a book about the living world. Not just "about animals." Not just "about nature." About the living world.

A world where every creature is priceless and unique. A world where at every step you are revealed by a small universe inhabited by incredibly businesslike inhabitants. And here, the efforts of little Darrell sometimes wash the line between nature and the house, and now, to the horror of relatives, it appears in it in the bathroom, geckos above the bed and seagulls under the table.

And of course, it would be a crime to ignore the irresistible Darrell humor, who would never change the writer, which he did not write about - about the people and animals surrounding him, or about himself. A thin, kind irony, invariably intertwined with self -irony, distinguishes all the works of the author. And in this book, it seems, his humor surpassed himself. This brilliant trilogy, as well as other works of Darrell, is able to find its reader throughout the globe, in translations into any language.

And especially now. When we all became captives of our cities, our work, our social role, this book looks almost a door to the Eden garden. Or the garden of the gods, as the author called the final - the third - the book ... Read more.