The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman

I bought this at Borders a couple months ago and really enjoyed reading it. It's a true story about a family who owns a zoo in Warsaw Poland in the 1930s. When WWII breaks out, they become part of the Polish resistance, assisting numerous Jewish families to hide and escape Poland.

The character development was superb. The motivation of both the husband and wife, based on their love of nature and their nationalist, was clear throughout the book. The characters were depicted as greatly compassionate and intensely brave but not without their foibles.

Another thing I liked about the book was a general history of Poland during WWII that explained some of the military and national issues that I had not known. My knowledge of WWII is rooted in Holocaust studies and the impact on the Jewish community, but it was interesting to read about the larger geo-political issues that created that environment.

I also appreciated being reminded of some major figures in the Warsaw ghetto, such as Janusz Korczak, gentile doctor who cared for Jewish orphans and died at Treblinka with them, and Rabbi Kalonymus Shapira, who brought joy and hope to a community in great despair. I did struggle with Ackerman's style of writing sometimes, though, when she wrote of the Nazis journalistically instead of with anger and hate.

Overall, a really interesting read about ordinary people compelled to the extraordinary in a time of crisis.