I adored these first two books in the Tuga Trilogy, and the third one doesn’t exist yet, so I must wait for it. Meanwhile, you might want to read these.

They are about an academic herpetologist (reptile expert) who travels to a remote island to study the rare gold coin tortoises there, escaping a dreary life in London, for a quirky, but genuinely participative community.

One of the blurbs of the books says, “A joyous, modern-day Jane Austen meets the Durrells,” which strikes me as apt, in an unexpected way. These books are intelligently written, with lots of small community and animals at every turn, and everyone in each other business.

This is a reading retreat to a surprisingly functional, out of the way, fictional place, filled with warmly eccentric, good people, who are all trying to do their best. It is very soothing, and feels like an antidote to and a refuge from the bleak realities of our news cycle. I read these books, a bit at a time, before bed, which was great for calm, unruffled sleep.

Not uneventful, there are challenges here of mother/daughter relationships, as well as a mystery of paternity to solve. Also, who to love; who you think you should or who you actually do? And which is the sacrifice, to leave or to stay?

Welcome to Glorious Tuga comes first, followed by book two, titled Island Calling. It is refreshing to find an easy-going, uplifting story that doesn’t feel trite, fluffy, or insipid. I give them five stars, even though they are a pure, cleanly escapist pleasure to read, without any deep and penetrating message to deliver. What we get instead, is a feeling that things can work out, and a sense of the beauty of the collective. What could feel better right now?