The Zoo

Fascinating ... nostalgia, social and natural history and the ongoing need to change

Chris Packham

What an incredible story ... a charming and lovely read ... a striking tale of discovery for the people involved and also for us ... you can give this book to anyone

Jonathan Ross

[A] vivid novelistic retelling . . . An impressive work of imagination and research, as well as a pleasure to read

PD Smith, The Guardian

A rich, imaginative and original history, written with a film-maker's eye for detail, and starring a remarkable cast of characters. Short of asking the animals themselves, it's hard to think how this might be bettered

Dr Richard Barnett, author of 'Medical London'

Terrific. Charman flings open the doors of a cabinet stuffed with zoological and human curios, blows off the dust of a couple of centuries, and talks us expertly and entrancingly through each exhibit

Charles Foster, author of 'Being a Beast'

Delightful . . . Charman takes the story out of the cages and onto the smoggy, sometimes riotous streets of Victorian London, up and down the country and beyond its shores

Nature

As I always tell my students, if you wish to understand science you need to understand the people involved in its development. Whilst the animals in a zoo are rightfully the stars of the show - their supporting human cast is no less fascinating and it is this that Isobel Charman has so wonderfully captured in her book.

Prof. Robert J. Young, Chair in Wildlife Conservation, University of Salford

She succeeds in personalising the story, bringing to life this extraordinary episode in humankind's search for a better understanding of the natural world

Ian Critchley, Sunday Times

The book's structure and style is that of a historical novel or Victorian melodrama...it would all make a wonderful seven-part historical costume drama

Andrew Hartston, Daily Express