Structure

The book consists of 36 chapters. The book starts in 1935 before the German attack on Warsaw with some background information about Antonina and Jan and how they came to be zookeepers at the Warsaw Zoo. Chapter 34, which contains the conclusion of the plot, ends in 1945. Chapter 35 is subtitled “Aftermath” and reveals the fates of the major characters following the war. Chapter 36 is set in the present and is divided into two parts. The first part describes the Bialowieza Forest today. The second part describes present day Warsaw.

Perspective

The Zookeeper’s Wife is written in third person from the perspective of Antonina. It is written in past tense. The book is a non-fiction work and adheres to the genre in that it recounts true historical facts backed up by research, but it also contains elements of a fiction book in that the author engages in sections of vivid...