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Also by Diane Ackerman:

One Hundred Names For Love, April 2011
Hardcover
The Zookeeper's Wife, September 2007
Hardcover
An Alchemy of Mind: The Marvel and Mystery of the Brain, September 2005
Trade Size (reprint)

THE ZOOKEEPER'S WIFE
By: Diane Ackerman

A War Story: A true story?as powerful as Schindler's List?in which the keepers of the Warsaw Zoo saved hundreds of people from Nazi hands.

W. W. Norton
September 2007
On Sale: September 4, 2007
288 pages
ISBN: 0393061728
EAN: 9780393061727
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction | Historical

A true story—as powerful as Schindler's List—in which the keepers of the Warsaw Zoo saved hundreds of people from Nazi hands.

When Germany invaded Poland, Stuka bombers devastated Warsaw—and the city's zoo along with it. With most of their animals dead, zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski began smuggling Jews into empty cages. Another dozen "guests" hid inside the Zabinskis' villa, emerging after dark for dinner, socializing, and, during rare moments of calm, piano concerts. Jan, active in the Polish resistance, kept ammunition buried in the elephant enclosure and stashed explosives in the animal hospital. Meanwhile, Antonina kept her unusual household afloat, caring for both its human and its animal inhabitants—otters, a badger, hyena pups, lynxes.

With her exuberant prose and exquisite sensitivity to the natural world, Diane Ackerman engages us viscerally in the lives of the zoo animals, their keepers, and their hidden visitors. She shows us how Antonina refused to give in to the penetrating fear of discovery, keeping alive an atmosphere of play and innocence even as Europe crumbled around her. 8 pages of illustrations.

Media Buzz

Talk of the Nation - January 18, 2008
All Things Considered - October 8, 2007