Animals Famous and Curious Stories Author:Rowan Clifford (Illustrator) This collection of exciting and amusing stories about animals reflects every aspect of their varied and colorful world. Some of the tales are by established and well-loved specialist authors such as Gerald Durrell and Henry Williamson. Others, including the exciting though ultimately tragic story of the race from Tolstoy's Anna Karenina<... more »/em> or the delightful description of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's cocker spaniel in Flush by Virginia Woolf, are fine examples of sensitive and emotive 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 Northland Wild in White Fang, the classic tale by Jack London. Epic accounts of the chase, such as the terrifying final scenes 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 Hound of the Baskervilles, through the touching relationship between man and beast in Gavin Maxwell's masterpiece of animal biography Ring of Bright Water, to the hilarious feeding rituals of the prize sow of Blandings Castle by P.G. Wodehouse.
This unique anthology of animal classics and curiosities, each story wittily illustrated, is an entertaining celebration of the fascination and fun of the animal kingdom.« less