Once again Durrell writes of Justine, Melissa, Clea, Nessim, Pursewarden, Scobie, Pombal-but from a fresh point of view. THe new insights are provided by the psychiatrist, Balthazar, who convinces the narrator that the first volume of the story was almost wholly inaccurate. So this second volume is a correction and an expansion of the first.

The author describes the wildlife on the northwest coast of Scotland and particularly the otters he befriended. "In this beautifully written, thoroughly delightful book, Gavin Maxwell gives a superb account of his life in a lonely cottage on the northwest coast of Scotland, about the animals who shared it with him, and about the others who are his only immediate neighbors in a brilliant landscape of rock and sea. 'A latent Robinson Crusoe or Swiss...

Explores the mysterious territory that lies between the dreams of the creative artist and the "real" world.