Balthazar Jones and the Tower of London Zoo
Contents:
The title of this novel could have been so much longer. Author, Julia Stuart, could have entitled it: Yes, that title would have been way too long. So, I understand Ms. Rather than giving the reader all that information in the title she instead unfolds this material to the reader slowly and gently, using str The title of this novel could have been so much longer. Rather than giving the reader all that information in the title she instead unfolds this material to the reader slowly and gently, using strategically placed reveals to open this beautiful story like a rose.
The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise
Like the author, I will condense my review by not giving a synopsis of the plot but to suggest that this book is a collection of love stories, affairs of the heart. There are doors to unlock, passions to unleash and hearts to be joined and rejoined and hardships to be reconciled. The settings are more than appropriate and the historical information she imparts is well timed, entertaining and relevant. Would I recommend it: I can see no reason, at all, for not recommending this jewel. It is something a little bit different from the usual same ole same ole and no reason not to give it 5 stars.
Aug 06, Joy rated it really liked it Shelves: I really enjoyed this charming and touching story set in the Tower of London. We were visiting there recently and took the guided tour. Our Beefeater guide was wonderfully entertaining and informative. I hadn't known that the Beefeaters and their families are required to live in the Tower. Balthazar Jones and wife Hebe are stilling reeling from the unexpected death of their young son Milo. Balthazar is charged with opening and maintaining a new menagerie at the Tower. Hebe works in the London Und I really enjoyed this charming and touching story set in the Tower of London.
Hebe works in the London Underground's Department of Lost Things and goes to great lengths to return lost items to their rightful owners.
Balthazar Jones and the Tower of London Zoo
I was reminded of how fun it was to take the Tube mind the gap! One of my favorite lines was spoken to Hebe, "You haven't lost Milo completely, you know. We always carry a part of those we love tucked inside of us. I would love to see these characters brought to life on the screen. There is even a wonderful Hollywood ending that is really heartwarming. What a torturous as opposed to tortuous book! There was loads of interesting historical bits stuffed in there, but the basic story line was so stuffed with adjectives and stolid writing that had I not wanted to find out how Milo died and what happened to the tortoise now that's a combination I never thought I'd utter that I would not have persevered.
Give me my time back. But it failed to find her husband. For purposes of common use and possibly for business cards they prefer the term Yeoman Warder. These Beefeaters were obligated to live in the dark and damp Tower of London-adorned with graffiti left from previous prisoners and occasionally visited by the ghost of Sir Walter Raleigh.
The Tower today is a hugely popular tourist attraction. This is the engaging story of one such Beefeater: The other denizens of the tower: Cook', a one hundred and eighty-one year old tortoise. Other animals reside as well, and their presence gives the often dry Beefeaters occasional undignified challenges, such as when a special Etruscan shrew dies, and they decide to tell people it's hibernating, or when they term bird poo as "Parrot indiscretions".
Jones is a complicated man, obsessed with weather and avidly collecting rain samples. An odd hobby, of course, but it's part of how he deals with his son's loss. It's unique details that make the characters of this story special. Julia Stewart has the ability to describe incidents in an unusual way; her prose delights.
She also describes incidents in a decidedly English way which accounts for moments of humor that are a bit startling. Her usual revenge, performed each time her husband returned Once she heard the muddy breath of a man descended deep into his dreams, she would suddenly leap from the bed and make the short journey to the bathroom with the gait of a demented sentry.
Once installed on the lavatory, she would proceed to empty her bladder with the door wide open. The clamour of the catastrophic downpour was such that her husband would immediately wake in terror, convinced that he was lying in a nest of snakes. The second phrase needed only a different word-order to smoothly convey the thought.
This is fairly common, as authors inadvertently do this all the time, but it's enough of a distraction that it jostles the pace of the story. All in all, this is a fun read unlike any other I've read. Note that the cover art appears almost as if it's a children's book, but the story within, while tame, is not intended for children. Dec 07, Alins rated it it was amazing. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here. Everybody knows about the Beefeaters in the Tower of London, of course, but it's unlikely you ever knew one personally. In this light- hearted novel you will meet the denizens of the Tower: Beefeater or Yeoman of the Tower Balthazar Jones along with his Greek wife, Hebe, are barely holding on to a marriage gone stale. We are introduced to the Reverend Septimus Drew, the Tower parson, who secretly pens erotic novels under the pen name Vivienne Ventriss.
We meet Ruby Dore, the sexy barmaid of the T Everybody knows about the Beefeaters in the Tower of London, of course, but it's unlikely you ever knew one personally. We meet Ruby Dore, the sexy barmaid of the Tower's pub Rack and Ruin, who was born "slithering" on to a kitchen floor because the resident Tower doctor would not leave his Monopoly game at a crucial moment in play to attend the crucial moment upstairs.
And there's the black-gloved villain, the Ravenmaster, who looks after his flock of vicious black birds, one of which recently sent a tourist to the hospital when the unfortunate man tried to pet the bird. Hebe Jones works at the London Underground Lost Property Office and tries to unite the careless public with their left-behind objects which include, along with hundreds of umbrellas, a kidney transplant, an urn of ashes labeled "Clementine Perkins" and a yellow canoe. We cannot overlook Mrs.
Cook, the year old tortoise belonging to Balthazar Jones and who lost her tail to one of the ravens. We briefly meet in retrospect the Jones' little boy Milo, who dies at age eleven and with him dies the spirit of the marriage, only dregs are left. At this point in time there really aren't any happy campers among the Tower personnel, trapped inside those ancient circular walls. Elizabeth II has arrived at a momentous decision: There isn't any enthusiasm behind Tower walls over this bombshell of the Queen's but who are they to resist the will of the Monarch?
However, Hebe Jones finds the menagerie the last straw, packs a bag and leaves her husband who has been hand-picked to be the reluctant director of this latter day Noah's Ark.
Cook the tortoise, disappears. But they learn something from the animals foisted upon them, these human denizens of the Tower. The animals, who all need care, take the humans out of themselves and thinking instead about the welfare of the various critters in their charge. True love will find a way over rocky roads and thorn thickets. Will Hebe come back? Will Mrs Cook find her way home? Don't miss this heart-warming tale, written with great charm, in which the spirit of the little boy Milo weaves the story together and brings it to a close.
Herald recommends
May 26, Rachel rated it liked it Shelves: This is a picturesque novel about the employees and residents of the present-day Tower of London, the city's largest tourist attraction. Cook and who are grieving the recent death of their young son Milo. As the story opens, Balthazar is appointed to open and manage a menagerie on Tower grounds of the animals given to the Queen by foreign heads of state. He oversees t This is a picturesque novel about the employees and residents of the present-day Tower of London, the city's largest tourist attraction. He oversees the transfer from the London Zoo of a group of penguins who go missing en route, some giraffes who were transferred by mistake, an albatross who begins to molt in mourning of being separated from his mate, a Komodo dragon, an assortment of possums, various parrots, an Etruscan shrew who suffers from crippling shyness, and a bearded pig whom Balthazar basically steals from the zoo just because he likes his looks.
Meanwhile, his wife Hebe goes to her job at the London Underground's Lost and Found department, where she spends her days trying to reunite lost items with their owners and lying down in the unclaimed magician's box the kind used for sawing assistants in half when things get to be too much for her. Mostly a comic novel, there's an undercurrent of sadness that runs throughout. The Reverend Septimus Drew pines for Ruby Dore, the barmaid of the Tower's Rack and Ruin pub who has recently learned that she's pregnant; Hebe's coworker Valerie and the ticket inspector Arthur Catnip love each other from afar but both too tentative to do much about it; the Ravenmaster suffers an unhappy marriage and various affairs; and Mrs.
Cook the tortoise is tormented by the crows. But mainly it's Balthazar and Hebe, who in their grief over their son become isolated from each other and cope in their own ways, Balthazar by collecting rain samples and Hebe by trying to find the owner of an urn of cremated remains that was left on one of the Underground lines, until things come to a quiet head on Milo's birthday. I liked this book, but a lot of the characters were underdeveloped. It's a relatively short novel, so some of the subplots didn't get much attention and although Stuart tied up all the loose ends, some of it felt a little perfunctory.
But it was a decent light read, and I liked it enough that I would read other things by the same author.
Elizabeth II has arrived at a momentous decision: Share via email email. The clamour of the catastrophic downpour was such that her husband would immediately wake in terror, convinced that he was lying in a nest of snakes. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. For a book that is charming and whimsical, Stuart packs alot in it's pages. We always carry a part of those we love tucked inside of us.
Jul 01, Stephanie rated it it was amazing Shelves: I LOVE this book. The plot is a little bizarre, but the strangeness of life lends itself well to moments of humor. More than once I laughed out loud at some outrageous, but inevitable occurrence. The book is written in charming and entertaining vignettes, moving from character to character in a world I've only seen as a tourist. It ends on the most satisfying note despite the various turmoils the characters undergo. Characters include a lonely albatross, a high-strung Etruscan shrew and escaped penguins; that's just an unbeatable combination.
In my package, Doubleday publishers sent a little sketch of the Tower, and I really hope that sketch will appear in either the paperback or hardcover final version since I referred to it often and reminisced about my own trip to London. Even so, I found myself running to google about every 10 pages to look up more treats of Tower history.
There are a few things that annoyed me however. Almost every chapter starts with the first and last name of a character. By chapter four, with unusual names like Balthazar, Hebe, and Septimus, I find that unnecessary and vaguely annoying. Some descriptions also appear multiple times. I don't like it when Laurell K. Hamilton does that, and I don't like it when Julia Stuart does it either, although I have the feeling this was done on purpose for some unfathomable reason.
Other than that, I did really love it, and I think I'll be rereading it many times. Aug 23, Caroline rated it liked it. A Beefeater at the Tower of London with an obsessive interest in collecting rain specimens in Egyptian glass bottles is now called upon to look after a new royal menagerie. Foreign dignitaries have at times made presents of exotic animals found in their countries to the Queen of England. They're usually kept at the London Zoo, but following the death of one gift, leading to an offended Ambassador, the Queen decided that it might be better to have these specially gifted animals under closer care, A Beefeater at the Tower of London with an obsessive interest in collecting rain specimens in Egyptian glass bottles is now called upon to look after a new royal menagerie.
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They're usually kept at the London Zoo, but following the death of one gift, leading to an offended Ambassador, the Queen decided that it might be better to have these specially gifted animals under closer care, and if so, whom better than her Beefeaters. Balthazar Jones, depressed and distant from his wife Hebe, after the death of their son, Milo finds himself having to supervise the transportation of the animals to their new enclosure, and reading up on their history as much as possible in case tourists have questions. Apart from having to ensure that they remain, if not healthy, at least alive in their new residence, Balthazar fights an ongoing feud with the Ravenmaster.
The Ravens of the Tower have been harrassing his pet ancient tortoise and he's convinced that they ate her tail. Meanwhile, Hebe, who works at the London Underground's Lost Property department, is busy trying to find the owner of a magician's box, an urn, a locked safe, a Igloo with a kidney and other items carelessly left on the train or platform by passengers. Apart from the humorous antics surrounding the employees of the Tower of London and the Lost Property department, there actually is quite a bit of details into the history of the Tower of London and the people who were held prisoners there and who died there, whether by their own hands or by royal decree.
I had some trouble getting in to this book initially, but I stuck with it because I wasn't sure if it was me or the book. As it turns out, it might have been a little of both, however I am glad I stuck with it as it picked up. I tend to really enjoy books that leave me with the feeling of knowing the characters on some level. I think the fact that I work as a mental health therapist probably contributes to this in someway. The author did not let me down on that front. The story centers around the I had some trouble getting in to this book initially, but I stuck with it because I wasn't sure if it was me or the book.
In my opinion, the author does a great job of giving the reader a glimpse into the inner psyche of the story's characters, flaws and all. After reading the book, I felt very familiar with several characters and familiar enough with others to understand their motivations and to recognize that if the author were to continue the story with a focus on further developing those that we are introduced to, I would be interesting in learning more about them. There is some interesting tower history that is woven in skillfully such that it is in no way cumbersome or distracting.
The story is also sprinkled with moments of humor that caused me to laugh out loud, something I rarely do, often still with a tear in my eye related to the struggle, both internal and external, of one of the characters. It is entertaining and not too heavy or intense while still displaying some meaningful growth of characters. It was well worth the time! Dec 28, Summer rated it really liked it Shelves: This is a story of Balthazar Jones and the life surrounding him as a Beefeater in the Tower.
His life is really a soggy mess, as is everyone else's who inhabits the haunted Tower. Then one day he is informed that the Queen is leaving him the care of her Royal Menagerie. This soon to be chaos added to the priest that writes erotic fiction, the ghosts, the lost penguins, the numerous sad love stories, the lost Oscar, the sarcophagus, the lovesick Albatross, the collection of rain samples and the n This is a story of Balthazar Jones and the life surrounding him as a Beefeater in the Tower.
This soon to be chaos added to the priest that writes erotic fiction, the ghosts, the lost penguins, the numerous sad love stories, the lost Oscar, the sarcophagus, the lovesick Albatross, the collection of rain samples and the numerous urns, the dancing rats I really enjoyed this book. It was an odd book filled with DRY British humor. I learned a great deal about the Tower and I had ignorantly thought the Tower was just that, one tower and why would anyone be interested in seeing that!? It occurred to me while reading this, the British have desert, dry humor in order counter act the wet and dreary life of England.
Oct 12, Sterlingcindysu rated it really liked it. For a book that is charming and whimsical, Stuart packs alot in it's pages. There's several sub-plots going on and everything is tied up at the end. I think she could have easily made 2 or 3 separate novels about the women who work finding the owners of items lost on the Tube or the minister who writes romances.
Even the Tortoise exacts revenge for her missing tail. Let's face it, sometimes you want to read a light-hearted book. This fits the bill. Serious topics are covered but at no time is ho For a book that is charming and whimsical, Stuart packs alot in it's pages. Serious topics are covered but at no time is hope lost.
Jan 08, AdiTurbo rated it it was ok Shelves: Not very into it. I loved the historical research but very little is happening, and the characters are not real people but a bunch of quirky habits and pastimes. The language is overly-decorative and smart-alecky, and I didn't feel that I cared, even though there is a serious tragedy in the center of this book.
Aug 28, Lena rated it really liked it Shelves: There are a lot of unusual characters in this odd novel. There is Balthazar Jones, the Beefeater at the center of the story, whose life giving tours at the Tower of London is complicated by the Queen's decision to put him in charge of the Royal Menagerie she has abruptly decided to move from the zoo to the Tower. There is his wife, Hebe, who is struggling to cope with the death of their son while working to reunite people with items that have been turned into her at the London Underground Lost P There are a lot of unusual characters in this odd novel.
There is his wife, Hebe, who is struggling to cope with the death of their son while working to reunite people with items that have been turned into her at the London Underground Lost Property Office. There is the Reverend Septimus Drew, the Tower Chaplain, who longs to find a wife to join him at his Tower home, yet somehow can't stop himself from sabotaging promising potential relationships by responding in colorful detail to the question of how many people have been killed there.
And there is Arthur Catnip, a diminutive ticket inspector at the Underground with an eye for Hebe's Rubenesque colleague, Valerie Jennings. In addition to the human characters, there are numerous animal ones as well, including the historical ancient tortoise of the title. But it is the stories of the locations all these creatures inhabit that are in some ways the most interesting. The author weaves the fascinating history of the Tower and its numerous prisoners through the lives of all of her characters, bringing it to life in a way that a dusty history book never could. The London Underground Lost Property Office also is overflowing with strange items with even stranger tales attached to them, and the mini-mysteries revealed as the clerks seek to discover their owners was a source of endless fascination as I turned the pages.
Although the attempts of the grieving parents to cope with the loss of their son lend parts of the book a melancholy tone, they are balanced out by ample doses of oddball humor. My only real complaint has to do with the abruptness of the ending - everything is satisfactorily resolved, but so quickly I didn't quite have time to catch up.
Despite that flaw, however, I found this book a genuine pleasure to read. Jun 19, Mary rated it really liked it Shelves: Balthazar and his wife Hebe are trying to go on with life after the death of their only child. This sets in motion a string of hilarious events that had me laughing out loud. There are supporting characters who are quite lonely. At the same time they add to the comedy with their quirks: I learned a lot about the Tower of London. Facts and trivia are interspersed throughout the novel in an easy flow that makes me want to read more about the famous inhabitants since the eleventh century.
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The gentle pace, the wonderful characters, and the humorous events of the novel make for an enjoyable afternoon of reading. Feb 10, Eric Klee rated it liked it. While cute, the story is as entertaining and fast-paced as watching two English women discussing the weather in London whilst sipping tea. They also have a pet turtle named Mrs. The Beefeater is then asked to be in charge of a new zoo they want to put together that would encompass all of the gifts of exotic and non-exotic animals given to the Queen of England from countries around the world THE ZOO.
Filled with interesting facts about Beefeaters, the Tower of London, and life in London, the novel seemed to be lacking in actual substance. While I don't require a lot of action or fast-paced stories, I do like books that I read to be interesting enough that I want to continue turning the page. Aug 21, Karin rated it it was amazing Shelves: Set primarily in the Tower of London, although also in a few other interesting places around the city, we see a bevvy of wonderful characters. We have a beefeater, Balthazar Jones named after one of the wiseman who is asked to care for the Queen's animals, which are to be moved there nearly years after the Tower's menagerie was closed.
He and his wife, Hebe named after the Greek goddess are each privat 4. He and his wife, Hebe named after the Greek goddess are each privately grieving for their son, who died several years before, and I thought the handling of this in the midst of all the quirky things was sensitive and well done. We have an erotica writing clergyman, a philandering Ravenmaster, a middle aged ticket inspector hopelessly in love with Hebe's coworker and so on.
I have to say that I was very happy that I needed a 7 letter title and that I chose this one. I plan to read the novel Julia Stuart wrote before this, and then, if there are others, read more by her. Aug 11, Charlene rated it liked it. Listened to as an audiobook and it was well suited to that. There are funny moment Listened to as an audiobook and it was well suited to that.
There are funny moments, great characters but also very sad moments. It's a hard book to describe, not all the scenes and plot twists "work" but the ones that do make it very worthwhile to stick with this. I think this is a first novel. Julia Stuart grew up in the West Midlands in England. After studying journalism at college, she worked on regional newspapers for six years. This, as beefeater Balthazar Jones discovers in Julia Stuart's second novel, is not without precedent - the Tower has been home to menageries of varying sizes for much of its history since the Middle Ages.
But this is the 21st century and the community of beefeaters who live in the Tower's maze of buildings, working largely as tour guides, are less than impressed with their new four-legged and winged charges. None less so than Jones, official keeper of the new menagerie, based largely on his ownership of the world's oldest tortoise.
Jones' wife Hebe leaves the cloistered chaos of the Tower every day for her job in the more contemplative, if equally surreal, world of the London Underground lost-property office where - with her co-worker Valerie often found with her head stuck in a pantomime horse - she takes temporary ownership of everything from drawers of false teeth to a magician's cabinet and an urn of human ashes.
Amid all this oddity, the Joneses are struggling, indeed failing, to cope with the death of their son Milo. Although at its heart this is a story of grief, loneliness and miscommunication, thanks to Stuart's light touch and gift for warm, dry humour, it is also a delightful gem of a novel, filled with absurdity, hilarity and poignancy in equal measures. It is chocka with quirky characters - such as Reverend Septimus Drew, secret author of award-winning erotic fiction and unexpectedly pregnant barmaid Ruby Dore - and almost all of them are fighting their own, often very funny, battles against loneliness and unrequited love.
Stuart has a gift for writing about normal people in all their complex and often strange glory, and for finding humour in sad yet everyday situations. Her story has the quality of a modern-day fairy tale, and like all good fairy tales the darkness at its heart is spun into gold. By the end of this book you find yourself wishing you could spend more time with the endearing characters that populate it. Sign into your NZ Herald. On the go and no time to finish that story right now?
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