Thomas French

Welcome to the savage and surprising world of Zoo Story, an unprecedented account of the secret life of a zoo and its inhabitants, both animal and human. Based on six years of research, the book follows a handful of unforgettable characters at Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo: an alpha chimp with a weakness for blondes, a ferocious tiger who revels in Obsession perfume, and a brilliant but tyrannical CEO known as El Diablo Blanco. Zoo Story crackles with issues of global urgency: the shadow of extinction, humanity’s role in the destruction or survival of other species. More than anything else, though, it’s a dramatic and moving true story of seduction and betrayal, exile and loss, and the limits of freedom on an overcrowded planet—all framed inside one zoo reinventing itself for the twenty-first century. Thomas French, a Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter, chronicles the action with vivid power: Wild elephants soaring above the Atlantic on their way to captivity. Predators circling each other in a lethal mating dance. Primates plotting the overthrow of their king. The sweeping narrative takes the reader from the African savannah to the forests of Panama and deep into the inner workings of a place some describe as a sanctuary and others condemn as a prison. All of it comes to life in the book’s four-legged characters. Even animal lovers will be startled by the emotional charge of these creatures’ histories, which read as though they were co-written by Dickens and Darwin. Zoo Story shows us how these remarkable individuals live, how some die, and what their experiences reveal about the human desire to both exalt and control nature.

Life in the Garden of Captives

Zoo Story

The fatal night On a warm Florida evening, Karen Gregory saw a familiar face at her door. What the beautiful young woman could not know was that she was staring into the eyes of her killer--a savage monster who would rape her, stab her to death, and leave her battered body on the floor outside the bedroom. The desperate search Detectives frantically sifting through the evidence were tormented by one disturbing question after another: What did the strangely worded note from a friend mean? Why was the house so orderly, when it had been the scene of a frenzied struggle? Why were the bloody footprints on the carpet barefoot? What happened to the white lace teddy missing from Karen's drawer? The shattering discovery Police detective Larry Tosi stayed up nights watching the video of the grisly crime scene, looking for the one telltale clue that would lead him to Karen's killer--until slowly, and with growing horror, he realized that the maniac he was hunting was someone he knew...someone he called a friend.

A True Story Of Friends, Neighbors, And Murder In A Small Town

Unanswered Cries

Kelley French

A micro-preemie fights for survival in this extraordinary and gorgeously told memoir by her parents, both award-winning journalists. Juniper French was born four months early, at 23 weeks gestation. She weighed 1 pound, 4 ounces, and her twiggy body was the length of a Barbie doll. Her head was smaller than a tennis ball, her skin was nearly translucent, and through her chest you could see her flickering heart. Babies like Juniper, born at the edge of viability, trigger the question: Which is the greater act of love--to save her, or to let her go? Kelley and Thomas French chose to fight for Juniper's life, and this is their incredible tale. In one exquisite memoir, the authors explore the border between what is possible and what is right. They marvel at the science that conceived and sustained their daughter and the love that made the difference. They probe the bond between a mother and a baby, between a husband and a wife. They trace the journey of their family from its fragile beginning to the miraculous survival of their now thriving daughter.

The Girl Who Was Born Too Soon

Juniper

Kelley Benham French

Das Ehepaar Thomas und Kelly Benham French wünscht sich nichts sehnlicher als ein Kind. Nach mehreren Fehlgeburten kann Kelly mithilfe einer Eizellenspende schwanger werden, doch ihr Körper stößt auch dieses Kind ab. Juniper kommt nach nur 24 Wochen Schwangerschaft zur Welt - viel zu früh, kaum lebensfähig, wahrscheinlich schwerstgeschädigt - die Ärzte geben kaum Hoffnung. Die ersten sechs Monate auf der Frühchenintensivstation kämpfen ihre Eltern um ihr Leben, und mehr als einmal stehen sie vor der schweren Frage, ob es gnädiger wäre, ihr Kind seinem Schicksal zu überlassen?

Thomas French

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