The Tower, the Zoo and the Tortoise by Julia Stuart is a strange but lovely book about what happens at the Tower of London after the tourists go home.
I did not know that the employees of the Tower of London , the Beefeaters (or more correctly, the Yeoman Wardens) , their families, the reverend, landlady of the pub and Ravenmaster actually live within the walled village of the Tower. No one is allowed in or out between midnight and 6 am.
The main characters are Yeoman Warden Balthazar Jones and his Grecian wife Hebe Jones who have lost their son Milo and are adrift in their grief. Hebe works at the London Underground Lost Property Office, which supplies no end of curios to the storyline. Balthazar, through strange circumstances, becomes the Head of the Royal Menagerie. In his care are 4 giraffes, a raft of penguins, a stinky zorilla, an albatross, some cheeky monkeys, and among others, a stolen bearded pig.
Not quite a modern-day Greek tragedy, this novel is full of comedic drama, human vulnerabilities, follies and divine acts.