Author Description

This collection of exciting and amusing stories about animals reflects every aspect of their varied and colorful world. Some ofthe tales are by established and well-loved specialist authors such as Gerald Durrell and Henry Williamson. Others, including the exciting though tragic story ofthe horse race from 101stoySAnna Karenina or the delightful description of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's cocker spaniel in Flush by Virginia Woolf, are fine examples of the sensitive treatment of animals by great literary figures. Adventures in the wild range from the scorched plains of Sir H. Rider Haggard's story, African Game, to the frozen wastes of the North in WhiteFang the classic tale by Jack London. Epic accounts of the chase in the dramatic closing scene of Herman Melville's Moby Dick contrast with the farmyard trials and disasters chronicled by James Herriot in It Shouldn't Happen to a vet. There are stories for every mood, from the excitement and suspense of Conan Doyle's The Hound oftbe Baskervilles through the touching relationship between man and beast in Gavin Maxwell's masterpiece Of animal biography, Ring ofBright Water to the hilarious feeding rituals of the prize sow of Blandings Castle by PG. Wodehouse. This unique anthology of animal classics, each story wittily illustrated in black and white. is an entertaining celebration of the fascination and fun of the animal kingdom