Friday Book Blogging

This week's pick is Julia Stuart's novel The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise. Quirky and sweet (almost too sweet), this story follows the marriage of Beefeater Balthazar Jones and his wife Hebe after the loss of their son. The tower is the Tower of London. The zoo is a newly acquired menagerie of the queen's. And the tortoise is 180-year-old Mrs. Cook who had her tail pecked off by one of the Tower ravens. The recommendation could be based on the witty and charming idiosynchrosies of each character, but the happy endings help too.