The Millstone by Margaret Drabble review

This tale of sexual liberation in the swinging 60s retains its power to provoke
Catherine Bennett
Margaret Drabble's third novel is often seen as representative of the age in
whih it was written the swinging 60s! But for the narrator" #osa$und
%taey" who ad$its to being &a 'itorian& when it o$es to sex" the 60s are
not partiularly swinging! ( novel that fouses on &life's little ironies& entres
on a partiularly ruel one) #osa$und's only sexual enounter results in her
beo$ing pregnant!
%he loses her virginity to *eorge" a $an who$ she does not know very well
and" what's $ore" initially thinks is gay! Meanwhile" she is dating two other
$en in a peuliar arrange$ent whereby she avoids having to sleep with
either beause they eah believe she is sleeping with the other! +t is hard to
tell whether #osa$und has a laisse,-faire attitude to relationships or is .ust
naive" as in all other respets she is extre$ely intelligent she's a dotoral
student o$pleting a thesis!
Drabble does not ro$antiise the reputed sexual liberation of wo$en in the
period! +nstead" we follow #osa$und as she deals with the onse/uenes of
beo$ing pregnant) her agonies about whether to self-abort" her progress
through the $a,e of the 01%" the soial stig$a she endures on beo$ing a
single $other! 1er very 2nglish desire not to ause o3ene or put people to
trouble so$eti$es grates" but on the whole she's a believable and
sy$patheti harater who is transfor$ed during the novel fro$ being
4erely independent to having an e/ually 4ere love for her hild!
The 4nal sene desribes a hane $eeting with *eorge" still unaware that
he's a father! +t's not exatly a happy ending" as #osa$und is still alone and
learning to live with the burden of a hild! But in its realis$" it's very $uh in
keeping with a novel that provokes as $uh today as when it 4rst a$e out!
%u$$ary
#osa$und is fro$ a progressive" intelletual fa$ily! 1er soialist parents are
in (fria and she lives in their 5at in Marylebone" 6ondon! #osa$und gives
private lessons and is writing a thesis on 2li,abethan poetry! +n the eyes of
her friends #osa$und is a strong" independent wo$an" but in reality she is
very inseure" espeially in the 4eld of sex! (s a way of esape she had a
relationship with two $en" giving eah other the idea that she has sex with
the other! %he feels seure in a relationship with *eorge" a ho$osexual
friend! This feeling of seurity leads to inti$ay and at one point they have
sex together! #osa$und 4nds herself pregnant and at a loss what to do! (fter
so$e deliberation she deides to try and get rid of the baby but her e3orts
7lots of drink and hot bath8 fail! (fter all #osa$und deides to have the baby"
whih her friends are onvined will be like a $illstone around her nek!
1er ontats with $idwives and gynaeologists bring her into a totally new
and unfa$iliar world! 0ot only beause they teah her things about her own
body" whih she had never been aware of" but also beause the lini she
visits $ainly aters for the poor! This opens her eyes to the fate of these
people whih" in her proteted aade$i world" she had been unfa$iliar with!
(fter her daughter 9tavia is born" #osa$und is surprised at the strong love
she feels for this little reature! %he realises that it is her duty to protet this
hild" who o$pletely depends on her! This feeling beo$es very strong
when 9tavia has to undergo a serious heart operation!
Meanwhile #osa$und:s friend 6ydia had $oves in with her! Their relationship
is di;ult! 9n the one hand 6ydia is the friend who supports her 7also
4nanially8 and baby-sits" on the other hand 6ydia:s sensuality represents to
#osa$und everything she has always been afraid of! 1er $ixed feelings for
6ydia inrease when one day #osa$und 4nds out that 6ydia" who is a
novelist" is writing a novel about #osa$und in a tone whih to her see$s to
o$pletely twist the fats of the ase:! (s a kind of revenge she lets 9tavia
into 6ydia:s roo$ one day" where the little girl proeeds to literally eat the
$anusript" $aking for a beautiful irony in the novel) the hild eating up her
own story! To #osa$und:s satisfation the books gets negative reviews of
publiation!
+t see$s that $otherhood has da$aged #osa$und:s $ental ativities! During
her pregnany she has 4nished her thesis" whih is well reeived in aade$i
irles" as well as a nu$ber of artiles whih ware published in sienti4
$aga,ines! 1er reputation is growing and she is o3ered a .ob at the
university! %he $eets *eorge again" but does not tell hi$ that he is the father
of her hild! <hen she takes hi$ ho$e to $eet 9tavia" she realises that her
bond with the hild is so strong that she will never need any $an to support
her!
+:ve hosen a su$$ary" whih was in the end of the book! +t:s written by Ton
1euvel$ans! + thought it was a very good one" beause he really goes to the
story:s ore! This su$$ary gives you a good i$pression about the book!
<oorden die ik heb opge,oht)
=rogressive > progressief? vooruitstrevend
=rivate > partiulier
%eure > veilig
Deliberation > overweging
#id of > ontdoen van
Midwives > vroedvrouwen
Caters > $aalti.den ver,orgen? leveren
@ate > lot? beste$$ing
Belangri.ke pagina
+:ve hosen for page AB! + think it:s an i$portant page" beause on this page
they $ake love together! +t:s the 4rst ti$e for #osa$und! Before she was
afraid of the physial aspets of sex! %o she never had done it before! (lso
this night would hange her life drastially" beause she gets pregnant!
Ten Cuestions
2xplanation of the title)
#osa$und %taey is a young wo$an who falls pregnant! Most friends of
#osa$und think she has to have an abortion" but #osa$und keeps the baby!
1er friends think the baby will be like a $illstone around her nek" but the
baby is very i$portant for her and gives a new purpose in life!
<hat kind of story)
The story is a novel! +t:s a psyhologial novel!
Desription of the haraters)
#osa$und %taey) #osa$und %taey is a nineteen-year-old girl! %he lives in
6ondon in her parent's apart$ent! %he is very unsure about having sex! <hen
she suddenly beo$es pregnant"
her 4rst reation is that she doesn:t want the baby" she wants to kill it! But
later she deides to keep the baby" also beause of her loneliness and her
love for the baby grows! <hen the baby is born" she feels a strong a3etion
for the baby and she is glad she $ade the right deision!
6ydia #eynolds) %he is the friend of #osa$und" and later also her roo$$ate!
6ydia is a novelist and is writing a novel about #osa$und and her daughter
9tavia!
9tavia) 9tavia is #osa$und:s baby! %he hanges #osa$und:s life!
#oger (nderson and Doe 1urt) #oger (nderson and Doe 1urt are the two $en
who are involved in #osa$und's double relationship! #oger (nderson is a
rude" but intelligent aountant! Doe 1urt is an ugly" but also attrative writer!
*eorge) *eorge" the BBC-radio announer is a ho$osexual! 1e is the father
of #osa$und's baby" but is unaware of this! 1e is also the $an to who$
#osa$und loses her virginity!
1ow do the $ain haraters relate to eah other)
#osa$und %taey had sex with *eorge" so she gets pregnant! 9tavia is their
hild" but *eorge doesn:t know that! 6ydia is a friend of #osa$und and later
also her roo$$ate! #oger and Doe are the $en she has an a3air with at the
sa$e ti$e!
+s there harater develop$ent)
Ees" there is harater develop$ent in the story! #osa$und %taey didn:t
have a lot of self-knowledge in the beginning and she is afraid of the physial
aspets of sex! <hen she disovers she is pregnant" she deides to abort the
baby! 6ater she aepts it! (fter the birth" she feels a strong a3etion for her
baby! This hanges her behaviour! +n the past she would never put the
responsibility for her proble$s others" but always bla$ed everything on
herself! 0ow as she realises the e3et this attitude would have on her hild"
she hanges! <hen the baby needs a serious heart operation" her love for her
baby grows even stronger!
<hat is the the$e of the novel)
+t:s about drastially hanges by $otherhood and how they a3et your life)
the way you feel" think and behave! The big hanges are very i$portant" so
in this story the psyhologial aspet of living is the the$e!
<hen and where is the story set)
The story is set in 6ondon! The 5at" where #osa$und is living when her
parents are in (fria" is an i$portant plae! The hospital" where 9tavia gets
a heart operation" is also an i$portant plae!
The story is told in $ore or less a year! +t tells of #osa$und's pregnany and
about the events whih take plae for a ouple of $onths after she has the
baby! + guess the story took plae so$ewhere in the seond half of the A0th
entury!
+s the work divided into several parts)
0o" the work isn:t divided into several parts! +n the book + read 7blakbirds8"
there weren:t even really hapters" only white spaes!
+s the story told hronologially or are there 5ashbaks)
The story isn:t told hronologially" beause there are 5ashbaks! %o$eti$es
she has old $e$ories of the ti$e before she gets pregnant" for exa$ple
about her 4rst boyfriend!
+s there an open or an losed ending to the book)
There is an open ending to the book" beause you don:t know what:s going to
happen with #osa$und and her baby! But at the other hand it:s a losed
ending" beause she 4nally deided not to tell *eorge about his baby!
<ho is the narrator of the book and is the language i$portant for the the$e"
harater et)
#osa$und is the narrator and speaks in the 4rst person! Eou an see the
world through her eyes and also her feelings and e$otions!
The language isn:t very i$portant for the the$e or haraters!
+nfor$ation about the author)
Drabble" Margaret 7born FGHG8" 2nglish novelist" born in %he;eld" EorkshireI
began writing after leaving Ca$bridge Jniversity! 1er novels are all
the$atially onerned with develop$ent of haraters toward $aturity
through experienes of love" $arriage" and $otherhoodI novels inlude K(
%u$$er Bird-age' 7FG6H8" 'The needle's eye' 7FGBA8" 'The +e (ge' 7FGBB8"
and 'The Middle *round' 7FGL08!
+nfor$ation on the na$e of the hild) 1ill" 9tavia 7FLHL-FGFA8" British
pioneer in housing refor$" born in <isbeh" 2nglandI bought" i$proved" and
$anaged tene$ents in 6ondon!
My own opinion)
+ didn:t had any expetation before + started to read! + .ust thought it would be
a nie and not too di;ult book to read!
+ really liked the book after 4nishing! +t:s a very nie story about #osa$und:s
life! + always like these kind of stories" so it was an exellent book for $e! +
think the writer wrote the story in a very nie way" so you an really
sy$pathise with #osa$und! The book was very interesting to $e! + only
$issed a plot at the end!
The language was not very di;ult" in spite of this + didn:t know all the words"
but $ost of the ti$es" + ould guess the $eaning of the word fro$ the
ontext!
The book didn:t teah $e so$ething new!
#osa$und i$pressed $e! %he:s a very strong wo$an" beause everybody
told her she should have an abortion" but she didn:t listen to the$! (nd now
she is happy with the hoie she $ade! + also ould identify with #osa$und"
but not all the ti$e! + guess + would have told that *eorge is the father"
beause he has the right to know! But in other things" like how happy + would
be with a hild" + ould identify with!
%o$e events were really shoking to $e" like how #osa$und wants to kill her
baby 7with gin and a hot bad8! + would never do thatM (lso the fat" that
everybody told her she ould better have an abortion" shoked $e! 1ow an
people think so easily about that kind of thingsN +t:s already a hu$an beingM
The soial li$ate wasn:t really di3erent fro$ $y own! The sa$e ould
happen to $e too 7the fat that + would fall pregnant8! + guess + would do the
sa$e as #osa$und didO+ would keep the babyM
+ really like to read another work about the sa$e the$e" beause + always like
these kind of the$es!
+ don:t know a book or 4l$ with the sa$e the$e!
'erwerkingsopdraht
+k heb als verwerkingsopdraht geko,en voor opdraht @ 7een nieuw slot
$aken8!
+k begin het nieuwe einde vanaf blad,i.de FPB!
+n the original ending she sees *eorge" the father of her baby again! %he
hasn:t seen hi$ for a long ti$e! %he asks hi$ if he would like to o$e to her
house and see the baby! 9tavia is sleeping and he looks at her for a few
$o$ents! Then he goes away again!
Q<hy don:t you o$e and have a look at $y babyN: + said! 1e nods yes! Q+
would really like to see her:! + felt really strange" beause now the $o$ent
has o$e to tell hi$ the truth about 9tavia! + was getting really nervous!
<hen we were both ready" we walked to $y 5at! My heart started to beat
faster and faster! QEou:re looking very beautiful tonight" #osa$und:" he said!
Q+:$ getting old" but it:s too dark to see it:! QDo you really" + don:t think you
have that kind of fae that gets old!: Q9h yes" + have!:
1e was going to see his hild very soon and + knew + had to tell hi$ the truth!
+t would not be fair to keep it for $yself any longer! <e a$e to $y 5at and
$y neighbour was .ust walked outside! Q2verything has gone very well: she
said! Q0othing bad happened!: QThank you very $uh:" + said! + went to see
9tavia" she was in a very deep sleep! Q*eorge will you see her:" + asked hi$"
Qshe:s in a deep sleep now" so be /uiet!: <hen *eorge looks at her + felt $y
tears o$ing! +t was so speial the way he looks at his daughter! Q<hat a
beautiful girl you have" #osa$und" it $ust have a pretty father too!: <hen he
looks at $e with that innoent look in his eyes + started rying! 1e a$e to
$e and puts his ar$ around $e! + ouldn:t handle $yself any$ore! Q<hat:s
wrong with you #osa$und:" he asked $e! + al$ost ouldn:t speak beause +
had a lu$p in $y throat! Q6ook again *eorge" look again:" + said sobbing! 1e
looked again at 9tavia and then suddenly she opens her eyes! Q6ook in her
eyes:" + said" Qwhat do you feel right now!: QThat you have a beautiful
daughter" #osa$und" she is very speial and i$portant to you!: Q+ have to tell
you so$ething:" + said with a soft voie! QDo you re$e$ber the night we
$ade love together" *eorgeN That:s the night 9tavia is $ade" you:re her
father! +t:s our hild!: 1e said nothing for a long ti$e! 1e .ust stood there"
looking at his daughter! %uddenly tears 4ll up his eyes! Q<hy didn:t you told
$e beforeNMN <hy didn:t youNMN <hyNMN: Q+ don:t know:" + said" Q+ don:t know! +
feel so sorry about that! + wanted to abort her" but + .ust ouldn:t! %he was $y
little baby" + ouldn:t hurt her! Can you forgive $e" *eorgeN: Q+ don:t know!
May + hold her!: Q9f ourse you $ayM: 1e piked her up and holds her for a
very long ti$e! <e both said nothing" we were .ust looking at our little baby!
#osa$und %taey is the 4rst person narrator of her own story in the Millstone
by Margaret Drabble! #osa$und is a single $other - nothing strange about
that" perhaps" at least in a twenty-4rst entury Britain where now half of
births are outside of $arriage! But in the early FG60s" when The Millstone
was written" un$arried $others were not so o$$on and it was a status to
whih onsiderable stig$a was attahed!
Conse/uently" when #osa$und visits hospital for her regular hek-ups" she
is su$$oned fro$ the waiting roo$ with a all of Mrs! %taey in an atte$pt
to $aintain the privay of her status! %he longs for the day - and not too
distant - when her thesis on 2li,abethan poetry will be o$plete and she an
pre4x her na$e with Dr!" thereby avoiding the deeption!
The Millstone is written in Margaret Drabble's onversational" yet dense style!
The haraters are highly o$plex and see$ to live their lives with a
devotion to intriay! 0ot $uh happens to the$" however" and events are
few and far between! #osa$und's life is a ase in point! +t was Ca$bridge" of
ourse" followed by the relative o$fort of a 5at in entral 6ondon" an
apart$ent provided by her parents alulatedly lose to the British Museu$"
where she does $ost of her researh! %he is de4nitely not the run-of-the-$ill
young lass who attends university nowadays" our #osa$und! %he has a
boyfriend at ollege" of ourse" but they never sleep together" not even on
the oasion they .ointly plan to ao$plish the at!
#osa$und is not really into sex" she thinks! %he has a tendeny to see herself
as an ob.et fro$ without" and her observation of the absurdity of various
aspets of being hu$an lead her to a life slightly re$oved fro$ reality" lived
apparently at ar$'s length fro$ experiene! Though she sees /uite a lot of
Doe and #oger - both /uite di3erent but eligible $ales - the idea of anything
other than a hat and a drink appals her! 2ah of the two $en" of ourse"
think that the other is the boyfriend and so are loath to raise the sub.et!
Then" for so$e reason hardly known to herself" she takes up with *eorge" a
gay radio presenter" and sleeps with hi$! Dust one! (nd yes" #osa$und is
de4nitively pregnant! (s ever" she annot deide what to do and" even when
she eventually plans her ourse" she is blown o3 onto a di3erent tak! %he
has read that drinking a bottle of gin in a hot bath $ight do the trik! %he
sets an evening aside! (nd then" .ust as the bottle is opened" friends turn up"
she o3ers the$ a drink and they share the otherwise-ntended gin between
the$!
#osa$und is thus never really in ontrol" despite appearing to have a
strangle hold on her life! Ciru$stanes always see$ to onspire to prevent
her getting preisely what she wants! But this is eventually seen as an
illusion! =erhaps she does get preisely what she wants" but does not tell us"
or herself!
(nd so 9tavia is born! The baby is a life that #osa$und onte$plated
ending" but when the hild is ill" the thought of her o$ing to har$ is too
painful to ad$it! ( friend" 6ydia" $oves in" shares the osts and sets about
writing a novel! <hen this is o$plete" an unsupervised 9tavia tears $uh
of it up" though perhaps not disastrously! #osa$und re$inds us that babies
are persistent" not thorough" so $ost of the pages are preserved! +t beo$es
the $other's trau$a" however!
#osa$und ould be desribed as $easured" always apparently in ontrol" yet
always feeling she is swept along with the tide! =assionate she is not! <hen
*eorge" who still does not know he is 9tavia's father" says she $ight do well
with a husband" #osa$und agrees" but only beause it would be nie to have
so$eone who ould help to 4ll in the tax return! *eorge is no better" sine for
his the purpose of $arriage see$s to be to provide so$eone to iron his
shirts! +t's all terribly British!
But the haraters are beautifully drawn" expertly pithed against the$selves
and their relationships! The Millstone" thus" explores $otivation and
ahieve$ent" and the relationship between sel4shness and sel5essness! +n
the end" we are who we are!
The Millstone by Margaret Drabble
<eek four) readers' responses
%hare RR
2$ail

Dohn Mullan
The *uardian" %aturday A6 Marh A0FF
Du$p to o$$ents 7O8
%everal of those who a$e to hear Margaret Drabble disuss The Millstone at
the *uardian book lub realled reading it soon after it was published in
FG6R! &#eading it again $ade $e feel /uite young"& said one" who" like
others" re$e$bered the 4l$" in whih %andy Dennis played #osa$und and a
young +an MSellen played the epiene *eorge! #e$e$bering the 4l$" for
whih Drabble wrote the sreenplay" pro$pted disussion of the novel's title!
This had pu,,led the 4l$$akers" who alled the 4l$ version ( Touh of 6ove
in Britain but weirdly as one of its ast" 2leanor Bron" who was in our
audiene" realled Thank Eou (ll 'ery Muh in the J%! 7The phrase is
#osa$und's sarasti re.oinder upon being exa$ined in hospital by a gaggle
of $edial students!8 %o why The MillstoneN
The Millstone 7=enguin Deades8
by Margaret Drabble

&Clearly" the baby isn't a $illstone"& observed the /uestioner!
&+t is a very urious title"& the author herself agreed! +t had o$e late in the
day" as she was thinking of the passage" given in three of the *ospels" where
Desus says &whoso shall o3end one of these little ones O it were better for
hi$ that a $illstone were hanged about his nek" and that he were drowned
in the depth of the sea&!
Drabble talked of how the novel took her bak to her own $e$ories of being
a young $other! ( ouple of readers on the website reaptured the
singularity" as it one see$ed" of a novel about an un$arried single $other!
&The book was an enor$ous o$fort to $e" in that sense of 'you are not
alone in this'! %o" belatedly" thank you" Margaret Drabble!& #osa$und is not
an entirely likeable harater" yet her narrative o$pels identi4ation! &+ was
o$pletely in sy$pathy with her at every point a new and fasinating
experiene for $e"& wrote one reader! Eet a younger reader also onfessed to
taking guidane for her own life fro$ this novel!
#osa$und's proble$s 7whih neighbour ould she trust to keep an eye on her
baby while she nipped out to the he$istN8 still have a hold on the reader!
9ne $e$ber of our audiene thought that this identi4ation with #osa$und
was absolutely harateristi of Drabble's 4tion! &2veryone identi4es with
the entral haraters in your novels!& ( fe$ale reader who had 4rst read the
novel as a young aade$i probed the author about her hoie of profession
for her protagonist" who is writing a thesis!
<as she after the &partiularly intense or sharp tension here between the
erebral and the e$otional&N +n #osa$und" Drabble agreed" this is
&highlighted&! +n the FG60s" fe$ale leverness was treated as proble$ati!
Eet was it perhaps rarer now than four deades ago to have a narrator who is
allowed to be leverN The author did wonder if nowadays &you would have to
underut her $ore&!
9ur attention is foused on #osa$und's experienes of pregnany and
$otherhood by re$oving her fro$ other relationships! (s one reader put it) &+
always thought the reason the $an?$en?boyfriends weren't $ade $uh of is
beause this is a two-hander between the $other and young hild!& &+n
novelisti ter$s"& observed one reader" &Drabble $ade it easy for herself by
taking away $any of the proble$s that would ha$per a real single $other!&
Drabble herself wondered aloud why she had &sheltered& her heroine so
o$pletely fro$ $aterial viissitudes! &<hat it does is isolate the business of
$aternity"& said another! The narrator's $aterial privilege gives a speial
intensity to her aount of pregnany and $otherhood" partly beause she
does not have other things to worry about! &Cheating" in a way"& $used the
author!
To general agree$ent" one reader said that &the heart of the novel& was the
episode in whih #osa$und is denied aess to her daughter" who is
reovering in hospital fro$ an operation! 1er &passion& see$ed extraordinary
beause $any were able to re$e$ber how hospitals used to o$pel awe and
obediene! The author agreed that this was what the book was about how
$aternity &hanges you into so$ething 4erer than you were before&! 1ere
too" of ourse" the protagonist's soial privilege $atters! (s one online reader
said) &%he has the self-on4dene to argue with the authority?bureauray at
the hildren's hospital! %he knows this is beause of her upper-$iddle lass
upbringing and that other parents will si$ply aept the edits fro$ on high
and never dare to /uestion!&
#osa$und and her friends were so present to $any readers that $ore than
one wondered whether the haraters were based on people who$ the
author had known! The author ad$itted that she took things fro$ people" but
that a harater was often an &a$alga$& of attributes! &+ have one or two
friends who$ +'ve used re$orselessly!& This" she said" was what novelists did!
My @a$ily and 9ther (ni$als is an autobiographial work by naturalist *erald
Durrell" telling of the part of his hildhood he spent on the *reek island of
Corfu between FGHR and FGHG! +t desribes the life of the Durrell @a$ily on
the island in a hu$orous $anner" and also rihly disusses the fauna of the
island! +t is the 4rst and $ost fa$ous of Durrell's Corfu trilogy" together with
Birds" Beasts and #elatives" and The *arden of the *ods!
The book is the view of *erald Durrell" aged F0 at the start of the saga" of his
fa$ily" pets and life during a 4ve-year so.ourn on the island of Corfu! The
book is divided into three setions" $arking the three villas in whih the
fa$ily lived on the island! (part fro$ *erald 7the youngest8 and 6arry" the
fa$ily o$prised their vague widowed $other" the gun-$ad 6eslie" and diet-
obsessed sister Margo together with #oger the dog! They are 4erely
proteted by their driver %piro 7%pyros &($eriano& Chalikiopoulos8 and
$entored by the poly$ath Dr Theodore %tephanides who provides *erald
with his eduation in natural history! 9ther hu$an haraters" hie5y
eentri" inlude *erald's private tutors" the artisti visitors 6arry invites to
stay" and the loal peasants who befriend the fa$ily!
The hu$an o$edy is interspersed by desriptions of the ani$al life whih
*erald observes on his expeditions around the fa$ily ho$es" island" and
seashore and whih he fre/uently brings bak and keeps as petsI these
inlude (hilles the tortoise" Cuasi$odo the pigeon" Jlysses the %ops owl"
nu$erous spiders" (leko the gull" puppies na$ed <iddle and =uke" and the
birds known as the Magenpies!
&This is the story of *erald Durrell's hildhood on the *reek island of Corfu
and his relationship with his fa$ily and so$e interesting loal haraters" like
%piro" the taxi driver and Theodore" a sientist who taught Durrell $uh about
the ani$als and nature of the island and re$ained a good friend of the fa$ily
after they $oved bak to 2ngland! The fa$ily were a olletion of eentris)
Mother is desribed as being always either knitting or ookingI oldest brother
6arry" who was a budding writer at that ti$e" was always inviting strange
artists to o$e and visitI $iddle brother 6eslie was an outdoor and hunting
nutI and sister Margo was always worried about her appearane! Durrell
desribes his fa$ily and so$e of their adventures" the nature and ani$als of
the island" the ani$als he kept as pets" and the teahers who tried to
eduate hi$ with varying suess!&
DThanna" #esident %holar
&The setting of this book is the beautiful pitures/ue *reek island of Corfu! (
young *erald Durrell and his so$ewhat eentri fa$ily set o3 fro$ old"
depressing 2ngland and arrive as if in a drea$ on the sunny island of
Corfu!This island is a veritable treasure of ani$al life and olive groves!+n the
narrative" *erald takes the reader on his explorations of the island! <ith hi$"
the reader visits old islanders and shares in their bread and olive oil" 4nds a
sorpion and the ure for its poison and even observes a wo$en giving birth
in a roo$ where no $ales are allowedM
The book is interspersed with $ention of %piro" a fa$ily friend na$ed after
the patron saint of the island" as are $any $ale islanders!%piro is a olourful"
refreshing harater who would have $arried the author's patient if
so$ewhat vague $other" if he was'nt already $arried!
1owever" $ost e$phasis is plaed on the explorations of the author and his
4ndings of ani$al life all over the island! (s the story unfolds" the reader is
introdued to various interesting ani$als and insets suh as the Trapdoor
spider" Cuasi$odo the pigeon and a sops owl whih the author keeps in his
bedroo$ during the day and lets out to hunt at night!
Most of these reatures are $et with so$e onte$pt by the fa$ily" all exept
$other" who as $entioned previously has a $ost forgiving and patient
nature! This provides a funny and interesting story as 6arry with his head in
the louds" 6eslie with his love of guns and Margo with her tendany to ane
eah in turn express their disgust" horror or oasionally" a3etion for the
ani$als whih *erald keeps as pets! &