?Stunning? rarely does one read a book in which the author and the heroine are so magically matched.? Dava Sobel, author of Longitude, The Planets and Galileo's Daughter Key Sales Points * Forgotten stories of heroism under Nazi occupation have enormous and broad appeal * A Natural History of the Senses received great acclaim and impressive sales in the 1990s * US Press is unanimous in that this is the story Ackerman was born to tell About the Book A Polish Schindler's Ark: the heartbreaking and uplifting story of the Warsaw Zoo under Nazi occupation. 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 wholeheartedly 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. ?Diane Ackerman has surpassed even herself in her latest book, which is alternately funny, moving, and terrifying.? Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel ?I can't imagine a better story or storyteller? will touch every nerve you have.? Jonathan Safran Foer, author of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and Everything is Illuminated About the Author Diane Ackerman is the author of the best-selling A Natural History of the Senses, among many other books of non-fiction and poetry. She lives in upstate New York.
