Stuart, Julia. The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise.(Brief article)(Book review)

* Stuart, Julia. The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise. Doubleday. Sept. 2010. c.304p. ISBN 978-0-385-53328-7. $24.95. F

Bleak times have fallen upon the Tower of London's residents. Grief, infidelity, loneliness, and other sorrows have begun to shadow the lives of those who guard and run the tower--everyone from the barmaid to the Beefeaters have felt the touch of misfortune. Until, suddenly, their splintering lives are drawn back together by a most unexpected decree; the queen wishes to house her menagerie of gifted pets within the tower's confines. Before long, the animals take merely complicated …