Prospero's cell : a guide to the landscape and manners of the island of Corcyra

Lose yourself in this glorious memoir of the island jewel of Corfu by the king of travel writing and real-life family member of The Durrells in Corfu. 'In its gem-like miniature quality, among the best books ever written.'New York Times In his youth, before he became a celebrated writer and poet, Lawrence Durrell spent four transformative years on the island jewel of Corfu, fascinated by the idyllic natural beauty and blood-stained ancient history within its rocky shores. While his brother Gerald collected animals as a budding naturalist - later fictionalised in My Family and Other Animals and filmed as The Durrells in Corfu - Lawrence fished, drank and befriended the local villagers. After World War II catapulted him back into a turmoiled world, Durrell never forgot the wonders of Corfu. Prospero's Cell is his magical evocation of the blazing Aegean landscape, brimming with memories of the places and people that changed him forever. 'Some writers reinvent their language; others the world. Durrell did both.' André Aciman 'Invades the reader's every sense ... Remarkable.' Victoria Hislop 'Our last great garlicky master of the vanishing Mediterranean.' Richard Holmes 'These days I am admiring and re-admiring Lawrence Durrell.' Elif Shafak 'Corfu could not have found a fitter chronicler.'Daily Telegraph 'A charming idyll ... Delightful.' Sunday Times A Guide To The Landscape And Manners Of The Island Of Corfu. 'one Of Lawrence Durrell's Best Books - Indeed, In Its Gem-like Miniature Quality, Among The Best Books Ever Written.' Freya Stark 'this Charming Idyll Depicts The Country Life And Cosmopolitan Society Of Corfu In The Years Immediately Before The War . . . The Matter Of It Is As Sound As The Story Is Delightful.' Sunday Times 'corfu, That Ionian Island Whose Idyllic Yet Blood-stained History Goes Back The Best Part Of A Thousand Years, Could Not Have Found A Fitter Chronicler Than Mr Durrell. For He Is A Poet, With All A Poet's Sensibility, And A Humanist To Boot, With A Keen Eye For Character And A Scholar's Reverence For Antiquity.' Daily Telegraph Guide to the customs, religion, geography, history, and the people of the Greek islands of Corfu and Rhodes