ChickSpeak

It’s always fun to grab your latest Chick Lit and head down to the pool or to the beach. It’s a quick and easy read that’s meant to entertain. But sometimes it’s nice to pick up a book with a more serious meaning, such as a narrative non-fiction.

Described as “a stunning tale of war and sanctuary [that is] perceptive, knowledgeable and rhapsodic” by the Los Angeles Times, The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman tells an incredible story of one of the most successful hideouts for both humans and animals during World War II through the eyes of Antonina Zabinski, the wife of the Polish zookeeper Jan Zabinski. 

The Zabinski family goes through terrible times as their zoo is bombed and many of their friends are forced into hiding, yet Antonina continues to put up a strong front for both her family and the hundreds of “guests” they saved. More than 300 Jews were saved by hiding throughout the zoo grounds and by the Zabinski’s calling them by animal names to hide the truth.

Part of what makes the tale absolutely incredible is the amount of research that went into making the book. Ackerman poured over documents, memoirs and writing from members connected to the zoo as well as other sources from Poland during World War II. All the direct thoughts and speech in the book comes directly from the character’s writings or interviews. Ackerman also spent time at the Warsaw Zoo where the Zabinski’s villa still stands. “The villa stands, where they lived, and I could lie down in the bed and look out of Antonina’s windows,” she says in an interview for Powells.com

Beyond the story of the Zabinski family, their animals and their “guests,” The Zookeeper’s Wife provides a rude awakening to how far the Nazi regime took their theory of purification. Along with creating a master race by getting rid of anyone that didn’t fit the correct standards, the Nazis also tried to fill the world with superior plant and animal species as well.

The book is an incredibly moving and eye-opening story that shows a different side of World War II. You won’t want to put the book down even as the Zabinski’s face hard times. It’s a unbelievably compelling story, and the most amazing part is that it’s all true.

Cassandra Zink is a recent journalism graduate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in love with all things media, tea, Pilates and to-do lists.