Summary, Analysis, and Review of Diane Ackerman's The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story PLEASE NOTE: This is a key takeaways and analysis of the book and NOT the original book. Start Publishing Notes' Summary, Analysis, and Review of Diane Ackerman's The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story includes a summary of the book, review, analysis & key takeaways, and a detailed About the Author section. Preview: The Zookeeper's Wife is the story of Antonina Zabinski, the wife of Jan, the director of Warsaw's zoo in the 1930s. Antonina's parents had been executed during the 1917 Russian Revolution when she was nine. Raised by her grandmother, Antonina studied piano and then moved to Warsaw. She met Jan, who was eleven years older than her, while working as an archivist. Jan became the Warsaw zoo director in 1929, and the two married in 1931. When the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939, the zoo fell into disrepair, but Jan joined the Polish resistance, and he and Antonina saved 300 Jews by hiding them in their home and helping them