The Zookeeper's Wife
by Diane Ackerman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

How do you not love a book that makes you want to reach out and learn MORE? This is a powerful, unknown, true story. It is about an exceptional Polish family, the Zabinskis, people who did good things during a bad time in history. Over several years, they hid over 300 Jews in their home and were tireless in Poland's underground resistance activities. Their home and the Warsaw zoo occupied the same campus and frequently it seems there was no difference between two and four footed beings in their ability to love.

Ackerman, the author, gathered diaries, letters, transcripts of interviews with the Zabinski family, their friends, and the people they hid and helped escape to safety . She did additional extensive research resulting in a domestic drama. It is a surprisingly uplifting description of life during the bloodiest years of the war.

We sometimes forget that there are always good people trying to do the right thing. I think anyone who reads this well crafted, multi-layered, honest retelling of someone else’s life story would be enlightened and encouraged by it. It will stay with me for a long time.

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