A Tortoise for the Queen of Tonga: Stories

by Julia Whitty

Bringing a unique perspective and a singular voice to contemporary fiction, A Tortoise for the Queen of Tonga features lush, poignant stories about the natural world. Here are mammals, historical figures, everyday people who discover the liberating properties of memory and knowledge in the face of captivity and loneliness. We meet a forlorn tortoise forced to live among humans. We witness orcas at Ocean World staging a revolt, using celibacy as their weapon. In a French cave, a young computer animator draws parallels between Cro-Magnon and modern women. One story even travels to heaven, where Charles Darwin seeks the source of human happiness.

Whitty joins her authority about wildlife and her rich imagination to spectacular effect. Drawing on twenty years' experience with making nature documentaries, she takes readers inside the minds of animals and people struggling to overcome their limitations. In a voice as magical as it is informed, A Tortoise for the Queen of Tonga bridges the mythical and the mundane, the animal and the human. Julia Whitty is a brilliant new storyteller in American short fiction.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Nature, Book Club, Adult

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

JULIA WHITTY was born in Bogotá, Colombia, and emigrated as a child to the United States with her Tasmanian father and Anglo-Indian mother. She holds dual American and Australian citizenships.

Her latest award-winning book THE FRAGILE EDGE:DIVING & OTHER ADVENTURES IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC was published by Houghton Mifflin in 2007.

Her first book A TORTOISE FOR THE QUEEN OF TONGA is an award-winning collection of short stories published by Houghton Mifflin in 2002 and translated into German by Marebuchverlag and Italian by Sartorio Editore.

She's Environmental Correspondent at Mother Jones magazine and a blogger at The Blue Marble. A former filmmaker, her more than 70 nature documentaries have aired on PBS, Nature, The Discovery Channel, National Geographic, Outdoor Life Channel, Arts & Entertainment, and with many other broadcasters worldwide. Whitty is on the Board of Advisors of BlueVoice. She lives in northern California.

Reviews

[Christina Potter Bieloh]

So far I've read only the title story. It is beautiful!

[Pauline]

There are some amazing stories, and some are OK, but it's worth it just for the title story.

[Sarah]

The title story is beautiful and wonderful and happy and I could read it over and over and over and over again. The rest of the stories... mediocre.

[RoadKing50]

I had such high hopes for this collection based on the devastating story Falling Umbrella. The other stories were fine, just not what I was expecting (e.g., talking animals). Her love and understanding of animals and the oceans are profoundly evident in these stories.

[Sulekha K]

These title story and “Darwin in Heaven” were definitely my favorites! The writing describing nature — the wisdom, joy, and imagination of animals —shines. The Feynman/Darwin short story was very unique, loved the interaction!

[Dewayne Stark]

Usually skip books of short stories but this one is good and is all over the place with subjects and places.

[Lisa]

The title story and "Darwin in Heaven" were my favorites.

[Lisa Book Lover]

I am sorry to say these short stories were not interesting. I skimmed all but the one about the aquarium animals unhappy with their conditions.

[Liz]

Bittersweet stories from the South Pacific.

[Valerie]

A wonderful book of short stories. Whitty is a naturalist,and ocean documentary maker.

[Ahm]

Wonderful. Delicate. Fulfilling.

[Penny]

Yawn.

[Jillian Dobrin]

An interesting collection of unrelated stories. Best of which were the title story, The Daguerrotype, Falling Umbrella and Stealing from the Dead.

[Beverly Kennett]

Very interesting mix of stories, although many left me feeling sad.

[Jen Bojkov]

I read this back in 2002, so I don't recall many details but I do remember liking it. I know it incorporated alot of the natural world into the stories which is always intriguing to me...

[RoseMary]

So far so good. Entertaining and fun