Recently, my neighborhood book group read a novel that has
been on my want-to-read list for a long time: The Tower, the Zoo, and the
Tortoise by Julia Stuart. This novel is an import from the UK
that features warmth, romance, and a great sense of humor.
Balthazar Jones works as a guard in traditional dress (aka a
Beefeater) at the Tower of London.
Like all Tower employees, he lives within the tourist attraction with
his wife, Hebe, and their 181-year old tortoise (this is apparently true, that
all Tower employees live within its walls). All sorts of quirky characters live within this odd housing
development: a bachelor minister who is secretly a popular author of erotica,
the Ravenmaster who is cheating on his wife, the single owner of the Tower
residents’ pub who has just found out she is pregnant, and more. Into this eccentric mix is a new
twist: the Queen has decided to
move her royal menagerie, featuring all sorts of exotic animals given to her as
gifts from foreign leaders, to the Tower, and since Balthazar has taken such
good care of his ancient tortoise, he is put in charge.
Hebe’s job is even more amusing. She works at the London Underground’s Department of Lost
Things, where she and her co-worker record each lost item as it is brought in,
from false teeth (they currently have 457 sets!) to a locked safe to a
life-sized inflatable doll, until someone comes to claim them. This was my favorite part of the book,
when Hebe was at work, surrounded by all of these ridiculous items, her story
told in a straightforward way with that particular British knack for subtle
(and not-so) humor.
However, this novel is not just about laughs (though there
are plenty); it has considerable emotional depth. Balthazar and Hebe recently lost their young son and are
each grieving in their own way, becoming more and more distant from each other
right when they each need the other the most. Meanwhile, Reverend Septimus Drew desperately wants to be
married and start his own family but doesn’t know how to approach the woman he
is secretly in love with (yes, a bit of irony there since he is so adept at
writing racy romances!).
It’s a novel about relationships and love and marriage,
about what brings people together and tears them apart, set amidst the
silliness of the Tower’s new animal residents and the outrageous items brought
into Hebe’s workplace. Stuart
seamlessly blends humor and tenderness into a story that is both light and
earnest. I thoroughly enjoyed reading
this novel and have been recommending it to both my American and British
friends. Just writing about it now
makes me want to read it again!
304 pages, Knopf Doubleday
Random House Audio
NOTE: The novel
was originally published in the UK under the title Balthazar Jones and the
Tower of London Zoo.
Although
the book was republished for an American audience, it retains its unique
British voice. Several times while
reading it, I had to quiz my online UK friends on various terms (though not so
much that it interfered with my enjoyment of the book). In case you were wondering, a swede in the UK is what we call a
rutabaga here, and it is apparently enjoyed by bearded pigs.
Note:
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Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/ordownload it from Audible.
Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local
bookstores (audio sample here, too).
Print and e-book from Amazon.
