The Rhino Keeper

Before The Porcelain Menagerie, Jillian Forsberg introduced listeners to a world of wonder, obsession, and fragile beauty in The Rhino Keeper—a 2025 Kansas Notable Book—brought vividly to life by narrator Caroline Hewitt.

Inspired by the true story of a Dutch sea captain who toured 18th-century Europe with an Indian rhinoceros named Clara, this richly layered novel moves between past and present. As Captain Douwemout van der Meer and Clara enchant Europe’s courts and crowds, admiration turns to danger, and devotion to sacrifice. Among those captivated is a young artist, Johann Joachim Kändler, whose porcelain masterpiece will echo through Forsberg’s companion novel, The Porcelain Menagerie.

With Hewitt’s evocative performance guiding the journey, The Rhino Keeper transports listeners across centuries—where art, ambition, and compassion collide. Continue the story in The Porcelain Menagerie, also from History Through Fiction.