Giveaway: The Tower, the Zoo and The Tortoise

Giveaway

2 copies available

Doesn't this look like a "drop everything and drop into your favorite reading chair" book?  The UPS man just left, and while he may still be in his brown shorts, I'm settling in for a good read this afternoon because here in Maine it's a glorious chilly early autumn day, and this one begs to be read.  I especially love the affectionate nickname it's been given : "TZT".   Judy at Doubleday/Random House has offered us two copies to giveaway. It hit the NYT bestseller list and is getting rave reviews from everyone. So what's the buzz?

Brimming with charm and whimsy, this exquisite novel set in the Tower of London has the transportive qualities and delightful magic of the contemporary classics Chocolat and Amélie.

Balthazar Jones has lived in the Tower of London with his loving wife, Hebe, and his 120-year-old pet tortoise for the past eight years. That’s right, he is a Beefeater (they really do live there). It’s no easy job living and working in the tourist attraction in present-day London.

Among the eccentric characters who call the Tower’s maze of ancient buildings and spiral staircases home are the Tower’s Rack & Ruin barmaid, Ruby Dore, who just found out she’s pregnant; portly Valerie Jennings, who is falling for ticket inspector Arthur Catnip; the lifelong bachelor Reverend Septimus Drew, who secretly pens a series of principled erot­ica; and the philandering Ravenmaster, aiming to avenge the death of one of his insufferable ravens.

When Balthazar is tasked with setting up an elaborate menagerie within the Tower walls to house the many exotic animals gifted to the Queen, life at the Tower gets all the more interest­ing. Penguins escape, giraffes are stolen, and the Komodo dragon sends innocent people running for their lives. Balthazar is in charge and things are not exactly running smoothly. Then Hebe decides to leave him and his beloved tortoise “runs” away.

Filled with the humor and heart that calls to mind the delight­ful novels of Alexander McCall Smith, and the charm and beauty of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise is a magical, wholly origi­nal novel whose irresistible characters will stay with you long after you turn the stunning last page.

You want this. Right?
So here are the rules for the giveaway: 

1. For one entry, leave a comment telling me whether you've ever been to London before. If you have, did you go to the Tower? Include your email address (no email no win).
2. For an extra entry, leave a separate comment telling me you're a follower (or become one and let me know).
3. For another entry,  make a separate entry telling me you blogged about the giveaway, (sidebars are fine) and LEAVE ME THE LINK to the posting (if I don't get a link, the entry doesn't count).
4. Since I don't twitter, tweet, or FB, you can get extra entries by visiting my blog every day, and leaving a comment about the current post. Just leave your comment on the contest post and tell me something about that day's post. Say "daily entry and the date and blah blah blah about the daily post." If I didn't post that day, then say "no post yet today."
5. US addresses only, no PO Boxes.
6. Deadline is Oct 14 -noon EDT.

Thanks again to Judy at Doubleday for making this one available.