“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 - both Christians - began smuggling Jews into the empty cages.

Another dozen 'guests' hid inside the Zabinskis' villa. 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, several 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. Antonina emerges as an unforgettable character, refusing to give in to the fear of discovery, keeping alive an atmosphere of play and innocence even as Europe crumbled around her. ”