Critical Praise

"A fresh and compelling addition to Holocaust literature."

"A lovely story about the Holocaust might seem like a grotesque oxymoron. But in The Zookeeper’s Wife, Diane Ackerman proves otherwise. Here is a true story --- of human empathy and its opposite --- that is simultaneously grave and exuberant, wise and playful. Ackerman has a wonderful tale to tell, and she tells it wonderfully."

"Ackerman has written many stellar works... but this is the book she was born to write. An exemplary work of scholarship and an ‘ecstasy of imagining,’ Ackerman’s affecting telling of the heroic Zabinskis’ dramatic story illuminates the profound connection between humankind and nature, and celebrates life’s beauty, mystery and tenacity."

"Poet and naturalist Diane Ackerman turns her keen gifts to an absorbing true tale of war and compassion in The Zookeeper’s Wife, a non-fiction narrative that breathes literary life into a most unusual hero.... A startling and moving portrait of life during wartime."

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