3.5 stars

This is a non-fiction book telling the brave story of Polish zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski who, when Germany invaded Poland, helped save the lives of hundreds of Jewish people by hiding them in the zoo and getting them to freedom.

I actually thought this was a novel of Antonina's life and her role in the war, so was a bit disappointed when I realised it was on fiction. That being said, I really enjoyed this book and especially considering it's non fiction, I flew through it. I felt at times, the book didn't focus as much as Antonina as I would have liked and I actually would have like more context on how the Underground actually started with the zoo as I feel like it kind of happened and that was that. I know that maybe there wasn't enough information around to know how it did, which again made me want it to be a novel so this could maybe a have a bit more explanation around it that made sense for me.

The story was pretty incredible and it's amazing to know people had such courage and love for each other in the face of such evil and danger. Antonina was defintiely a matriarch to admire. I particularly liked the scenes with Jan in the ghetto where he literally scared the guard into respecting him and was able to walk out with Jewish people like it was no big deal and save them from a terrible fate.

I would have liked a bit more animal scenes and the ones we did get were pretty bittersweet. I quickly learned not to get too attached to any of the animals, though it was hard, as so many of them were died or killed - poor Mortys :(

I am very much looking forward to seeing the movie for this (though seeing the trailer there is a lot of dramatic differences in it).