title

UK First Edition
1962 - Michael Joseph

US First Edition
1962 - Doubleday

Review
There is a superstition that if the Barbary Apes leave Gibraltar, the English will also leave. This story is set in Gibraltar at the start of the Second World War, and is the story of the efforts required to keep the apes in Gibraltar. The major problem is an ape called Harold (a.k.a. Scruffy), who is appallingly behaved, and who does his best to bring down the wrath of officialdom on all the apes and their keepers.

This is a very funny and moving story. It is difficult to make you love a scruffy, unkempt and vicious beast like Scruffy, but Paul Gallico manages it beautifully.



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