Simon Nye's TV series, The Durrells, is based loosely on Gerald Durrell's Corfu Trilogy and in particular his much-loved bestseller, My Family and Other Animals. These books in turn are based somewhat loosely on actual events. The real-life Durrells went to Corfu at the urging of Lawrence Durrell, who was already living on the island with his wife, Nancy Myers. Their intent was to keep the family together as his mother, Louisa, was drinking heavily and recovering from a breakdown; 'We can be proud of the way we brought her up,' Larry said, only half-jokingly, of the family's subsequent Corfu sojourn.
Praise for The Quest for Mary Magdalene: '[A] well-researched and page-turning history ... a narrative as clue-rich as a thriller.' Sunday Times
Praise for The Tragedy of the Templars: 'Haag is a romantic pluralist, with an instinctive taste for the esoteric, the independent and the defeated; and a corresponding distrust of victors and orthodoxies.' TLS
Praise for The Templars: 'History and Myth 'Here at long last is a history of the Knights Templar - and their secrets - that you can believe in.' Scotsman
Author
About Michael Haag
Michael Haag knew Lawrence Durrell (and met Gerry and Margo) and is currently writing a biography of Lawrence Durrell for Yale University Press, which also published his Alexandria: City of Memory, a definitive study of Cavafy, Forster and Lawrence Durrell in the city. Haag has also written widely on the Egyptian, Classical and Medieval worlds and is the author of a dozen books, including, for Profile, The Tragedy of the Templars and The Quest for Mary Magdalene.
