
That takes a special stripe of bravery rarely valued in wartime” “One of the most remarkable things about Antonina was her determination to include play, animals, wonder, curiosity, marvel, and a wide blaze of innocence in a household where all dodged the ambient dangers, horrors, and uncertainties. Jan and Antonina saved over 300 people from the death camps of the Holocaust. But more than anything it is a story of decency and sacrifice triumphing over terror and oppression. It shows us the human and personal impact of war - of life in the Warsaw Ghetto, of fighting in the anti-Nazi resistance. Written with the narrative drive and emotional punch of a novel, THE ZOOKEPER'S WIFE is a remarkable true story. Through the ever-present fear of discovery, Antonina must keep her unusual household afloat, caring for both its human and animal inhabitants - otters, a badger, hyena pups, lynxes - as Europe crumbles around them. Plans are prepared for what will become the Warsaw uprising. Ammunition is buried in the elephant enclosure and explosives stored in the animal hospital. With most of their animals killed, or stolen away to Berlin, zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski begin smuggling Jews into the empty cages.Īs the war escalates Jan becomes increasingly involved in the anti-Nazi resistance. When Germany invades Poland, Luftwaffe bombers devastate Warsaw and the city's zoo along with it. She has taught at a variety of universities, including Columbia and Cornell.A remarkable true story of bravery and sanctuary during World War II - for fans of THE GUERNSEY LITERARY POTATO PEEL SOCIETY and THE POSTMISTRESS. Her other awards include the Abbie Copps Poetry Prize, Black Warrior Poetry Prize, Pushcart Prize, Peter I.

She received the Orion Book Award for The Zookeepers Wife.
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She hosted a five-hour PBS television series inspired by A Natural History of the Senses. Her essays about nature and human nature have appeared in Parade, National Geographic, The New York Times, and The New Yorker magazines. She is coeditor of a Norton anthology, The Book of Love. She also writes nature books for children including Animal Sense Monk Seal Hideaway and Bats: Shadows in the Night. Her nonfiction works include A Natural History of the Senses A Natural History of Love The Moon by Whale Light: And Other Adventures Among Bats, Crocodilians, Penguins, and Whales An Alchemy of Mind and On Extended Wings.


She has written many books of poetry including The Planets: A Cosmic Pastoral Wife of Light Jaguar of Sweet Laughter: New and Selected Poems Origami Bridges: Poems of Psychoanalysis and Fire and I Praise My Destroyer. Poet, author, educator, adventurer, and naturalist, she tries to bridge science and art in her writing, exploring questions of who we are, where we come from, and how we fit into the fabric of the world. in English from Pennsylvania State University and her M.A., M.F.A., and Ph.D. Requires OverDrive Read (file size: N/A KB) or Adobe Digital Editions (file size: 618 KB) or Kobo app or compatible Kobo device (file size: N/A KB) or Amazon Kindle (file size: N/A KB).ĭiane Ackerman was born on Octoin Waukegan, Illinois.

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With animal names for these "guests," and human names for the animals, it's no wonder that the zoo's code name became "The House Under a Crazy Star." Best-selling naturalist and acclaimed storyteller Diane Ackerman combines extensive research and an exuberant writing style to re-create this fascinating, true-life story - sharing Antonina's life as "the zookeeper's wife," while examining the disturbing obsessions at the core of Nazism. After their zoo was bombed, Polish zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski managed to save over three hundred people from the Nazis by hiding refugees in the empty animal cages. A true story in which the keepers of the Warsaw Zoo saved hundreds of people from Nazi hands. The New York Times bestseller soon to be a major motion picture starring Jessica Chastain.
