I went into this with no knowledge of the story and was surprised at how good it was. The fact that this is a true story, a biography in fact, is mind blowing. The journey Harkness went on, from trying to gather pandas for zoos to conservation in China is truely inspiring. The back drop of the war between Japan and China makes the whole thing even more dramatic. The sad end to her story and the mix of elation and grief throughout makes this one of the first biographies I struggled to put down.