If you like tea and books, cozy up to these tea-related fictions

By Perry Luckett, TeaManToo

I recently ran across Nicole Wilson’s blog about all things tea and found interesting her brief reviews of fiction books for tea lovers. She kindly consolidated those reviews in a single blog last month, so I’m sharing them here for our readers. Once inspired by Nicole’s work, I wondered if I could find a few more books that use references to tea culture in their story-making. Here are my finds, followed by Nicole’s original roundup.

Tea in Fiction: A Cozy Stroll through Tea-fueled Adventures

The authors represented here likely would agree with Henry James’ opening in The Portrait of a Lady: “Under certain circumstances, there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea. From five o’clock to eight is on certain occasions a little eternity; but on such an occasion as this the interval could be only an eternity of pleasure.” The following novels exhibit a range of tea-related story lines, but all cover the “tea ceremony” as an occasion for social, political, or business exchanges.

Jennifer Donnelly, The Tea Rose—part of a series with The Winter Rose and The Wild Rose

From Goodreads:

East London, 1888 - a city apart. A place of shadow and light where thieves, whores, and dreamers mingle, where children play in the cobbled streets by day and a killer stalks at night, where bright hopes meet the darkest truths. Here, by the whispering waters of the Thames, Fiona Finnegan, a worker in a tea factory, hopes to own a shop one day, together with her lifelong love, Joe Bristow, a costermonger's son. With nothing but their faith in each other to spur them on, Fiona and Joe struggle, save, and sacrifice to achieve their dreams.

But Fiona's life is shattered when the actions of a dark and brutal man take from her nearly everything-and everyone-she holds dear. Fearing her own death, she is forced to flee London for New York. There, her indomitable spirit propels her rise from a modest West Side shop-front to the top of Manhattan's tea trade. But Fiona's old ghosts do not rest quietly, and to silence them, she must venture back to the London of her childhood, where a deadly confrontation with her past becomes the key to her future.

Dinah Jefferies, The Tea Planter’s Wife. From Kirkus Reviews:

Gwen, daughter of a landed Gloucestershire family, marries widower Laurence Hooper, descended from Ceylon’s original English settlers. Upon setting up housekeeping on the vast Hooper tea plantation, Gwen is puzzled by Laurence’s intermittent coldness toward her. Unable to get any information out of the family servants, not even longtime retainer and ayah Naveena, Gwen suspects that Laurence may be succumbing to the blandishments, financial and otherwise, of New York sophisticate Christina, a Wall Street trader. Another thorn is Verity, Laurence’s clingy sister, who refuses to get married while insisting that Laurence pay her an allowance. In a secluded grotto, Gwen also discovers the grave of Laurence’s young son, Thomas, his child by his first wife, Caroline, and Laurence is circumspect about how Thomas died—as he is about the nature of Caroline’s final illness.

At a planters’ soiree, Gwen spies Laurence dancing with Christina and feigns indifference by getting sloshed. Unable to recall what happened after being carried upstairs and put to bed by Savi Ravasinghe, a charming Sinhalese society portraitist, Gwen assumes the worse. Having ironed out their conjugal wrinkles, she becomes pregnant, and, while Laurence is away, she gives birth to twins—a white boy and a girl clearly of mixed race. Naveena names the girl Liyoni and finds a family to raise her.

Tormented by the loss of her daughter, secrets kept from and by Laurence, and revulsion for Savi, Gwen watches the painter flirt with every woman in sight and eventually become the toast of New York. Muddle the above with the Wall Street crash, mysterious thefts, and a couple of native uprisings, and we soon realize that this plot has painted itself into a corner from which only the unlikeliest of coincidences can extract it.

From Goodreads:

1920s Ceylon: In this lush, atmospheric page-turner, nineteen-year-old Gwendolyn Hooper has married Laurence, the seductively mysterious owner of a vast tea empire in colonial Ceylon, after a whirlwind romance in London. When she joins him at his faraway tea plantation, she’s filled with hope for their life together, eager to take on the role of mistress of the house, learn the tea business, and start a family.

But life in Ceylon is not what Gwen expected. The plantation workers are resentful, the neighbors and her new sister-in-law are treacherous, and there are clues to the past—a dusty trunk of dresses, an overgrown gravestone in the grounds—that her husband refuses to discuss.

Gwen finds herself drawn to a local Sinhalese man of questionable intentions and worries about her new husband’s connection to a brash American businesswoman. But most troubling are the unanswered questions surrounding Laurence’s first marriage. Why won’t anyone discuss the fate of his first wife? Who’s buried in the unmarked grave in the forest? As the darkness of her husband’s past emerges, Gwen is forced to make a devastating choice, one that could destroy their future and Gwen’s chance at happiness.

Just as Gwen finds her feet, disaster strikes. She faces a terrible choice, hiding the truth from almost everyone, but a secret this big can't stay buried forever.

Janet McLeod Trotter. British author Janet MacLeod Trotter has had 24 books published, 19 of them historical family dramas. Among these books are the four novels of her India Tea Book Series, including three that use tea-related settings, themes, and cozy scenes. Book 3, The Girl from the Tea Garden, has only peripheral connections to tea culture, so I haven’t included it below.

Book 1: The Tea Planter’s Daughter—from Goodreads:

Lush, green, fragrant: the Indian hills of Assam are full of promise. But eighteen-year-old Clarissa Belhaven is full of worry. The family tea plantation is suffering, and so is her father, still grieving over the untimely death of his wife, while Clarissa’s fragile sister, Olive, needs love and resourceful care.

Beautiful and headstrong, Clarissa soon attracts the attention of young, brash Wesley Robson, a rival tea planter. Yet before his intentions become fully clear, tragedy befalls the Belhavens and the sisters are wrenched from their beloved tea garden to the industrial streets of Tyneside.

A world away from the only home she has ever known, Clarissa must start again. Using all her means, she must endure not only poverty but jealousy and betrayal too. Will the reappearance of Wesley give her the link to her old life that she so desperately craves? Or will a fast-changing world and the advent of war extinguish hope forever?

Book 2: The Tea Planter’s Bride—from Goodreads:

When Sophie is suddenly orphaned at the age of six, she is taken from her parents’ tea plantation, the only home she has ever known, to be raised halfway across the world in Scotland.

As the years pass and her exotic childhood becomes a distant memory, adventurous Sophie finds refuge in her friendship with her kind, shy cousin, Tilly. It is no surprise when the girls follow each other to India to embark on new adventures, new lives and new loves.

But the reality of 1920s India is far removed from their dream: the jungles are too humid and the breathtaking tea gardens too remote. And amongst the stifling beauty, intrigue abounds; while Sophie struggles with affairs of the heart, Tilly, alone in a difficult world, delves into the mystery of Sophie’s parents’ deaths. As the past begins to darken their friendship, will long-held secrets shatter everything they’ve ever striven for?

Book 4: The Secrets of the Tea Garden—from Goodreads:

After the Second World War, Libby Robson leaves chilly England for India, and the childhood home where she left her heart—and her beloved father, James—fourteen years ago.

At first Libby is intoxicated by India’s vibrant beauty: the bustle of Calcutta, the lush tea gardens of Assam. But beneath the surface a rebellion is simmering: India is on the brink of independence, and the days of British rule are numbered. As the owner of a tea plantation, James embodies the hated colonial regime, and Libby finds herself questioning her idealized memories—particularly when she meets the dashing freedom fighter Ghulam Khan.

As Independence looms, life in India becomes precarious for Libby, James and even Ghulam. And when James reveals a shameful family secret, Libby is forced to question her past—and her future.

C.J. Cherryh, Foreigner Book 1— By my count Foreigner 1 mentions tea 90 times and often sets the scene for official meetings and individual exchanges with descriptions of teapot sets and ceremonies. A cozy tea ceremony is common when ministering to people who are cold or when staging a chat between imperial leaders. One type of tea is lethal to humans in enough quantity and makes them ill in smaller amounts. The main (human) character has that reaction but then continues to drink normal tea at several meals described throughout the book.

From Goodreads:

The story begins nearly five centuries after the starship Phoenix, lost in space and desperately searching for the nearest G5 star, encountered the planet of the Atevi. On this alien world, law was kept by registered assassination, alliances were defined by individual loyalties not geographical borders, and war became inevitable once humans and one faction of Atevi established a working relationship. It was a war that humans had no chance of winning on this planet so many light-years from home.

Now, nearly two hundred years after that conflict, humanity has traded its advanced technology for peace and an island refuge that no Atevi will ever visit. Then the sole human the treaty allows into Atevi society is marked for an assassin's bullet. The work of an isolated lunatic? The interests of a particular faction? Or the consequence of one human's fondness for a species which has fourteen words for betrayal and not a single word for love? You must read Foreigner to find the answer.

Ann Leckie, Ancillary Sword, second book of the Imperial Radch series.

From Goodreads:

The action takes place partly on a planet used to grow tea for the Empire. Anaander Mianaai, the Lord of the Radch—or the part of her personality that opposes further militant expansion of the empire—adopts Breq into her house, appoints her Fleet Captain, puts her in command of the warship Mercy of Kalr, and charges her to protect the remote Athoek system. Breq's crew includes her old comrade Seivarden and the young Lieutenant Tisarwat, who is revealed to be an ancillary copy of Anaander herself. After Breq recognizes Tisarwat as an ancillary of Anaander, she has her ancillary implants removed, allowing Tisarwat to develop an independent personality.

At Athoek Station, Breq seeks out Basnaaid, the sister of Awn, an officer Breq once loved and, on Anaander's orders, killed. She meets Dlique, translator for the alien Presger, who is killed in a scuffle with ancillaries of Sword of Atagaris – the other warship on station. That warship’s commander is Captain Hetnys, Breq's nominal subordinate. To placate the powerful aliens, Breq and Hetnys enter formal mourning on the estate of Fosyf, a prominent tea planter who holds her workers, transportees from other Radch-conquered worlds, in conditions like serfdom.

After Breq survives an attempt on her life by Raughd, Fosyf's abusive heir, she suspects that somebody abducts suspended transportees, possibly an ancient warship seeking to replenish its ancillary crew. Hetnys and her ship move against Breq, apparently serving the other half of Anaander Mianaai, but they are subdued after Breq holds Hetnys hostage.

Aliette de Bodard, The Tea Master and the Detective. One of the characters makes a living from tea, so references to tea, teapots, and serving tea come up frequently  

From Goodreads:

Welcome to the Scattered Pearls Belt, a collection of ring habitats and orbitals ruled by exiled human scholars and powerful families—and held together by living mindships who carry people and freight between the stars. In this fluid society, human and mindship avatars mingle in corridors and in function rooms, and physical and virtual realities overlap, the appearance of environments easily modified and adapted to interlocutors or current mood.

A transport ship discharged from military service after a traumatic injury, The Shadow's Child now ekes out a precarious living as a brewer of mind-altering drugs for the comfort of space-travelers. Meanwhile, abrasive and eccentric scholar Long Chau wants to find a corpse for a scientific study. When Long Chau walks into her office, The Shadow's Child expects an unpleasant but easy assignment. When the corpse turns out to have been murdered, Long Chau feels compelled to investigate, dragging The Shadow's Child with her.

As they dig deep into the victim's past, The Shadow's Child recognizes that the investigation points to Long Chau's own murky past—and, ultimately, to the dark and unbearable void that lies between the stars.

Gail Carriger, The Custard Protocol, part of the Parasol Protectorate Series, uses a tea-related purpose to launch the plot of Prudence (Book 1, Custard Protocol). As the back-cover blurb says: “When Prudence Alessandra Maccon Akeldama (Rue to her friends) is given an unexpected dirigible, she does what any sensible female would do under similar circumstances—names it the Spotted Custard and floats to India in search of the perfect cup of tea.”

A star reviewer on Goodreads, Maja (The Nocturnal Library), offers the following nice summary of the book’s main characters:

“Rue is the adopted daughter of Lord Akeldama (“Dama”) and is reared mostly by her second father for her own safety. Her birth parents lived next door to stay close to her, but Dama was always her biggest ally and friend. As a result of her unusual upbringing (and her excellent genes), Prudence is a highly opinionated young lady, resourceful, smart and naturally very fashionable. She is also a bit of a tomboy and she doesn’t concern herself too much with society’s many rules, much to her adoptive father’s delight.

Prudence and her Dama conspire regularly to manipulate her mother Alexia into allowing Rue to do all sorts of outrageous things, such as traveling to India to investigate tea. Once convinced, of course, Alexia easily convinces her husband (Rue’s birth father) to do the same. So begins Rue’s journey on Spotted Custard with her carefully selected crew and her trusted friends.

Like their mothers before them, Rue and Prim Tunstell are the best of friends. Prim is very different from Ivy, though. She is flawless, stylish, and always does the right thing. She outshines Rue regularly, but Rue is never even a bit resentful. She just loves Prim like a sister and doesn’t care about petty things. Prim’s brother Percy is just as interesting, but in an entirely different way. He is a bookworm with all sorts of knowledge and very little practical application. His obliviousness is a continual theme in the book, and it never stops being hilarious.”

Of course, India has more than just tea on offer. Rue stumbles on a plot involving local dissidents, a kidnapped brigadier's wife, and some familiar Scottish werewolves. Faced with a dire crisis, Rue presses on as one would expect for a young lady of good breeding who is also a metanatural (the child of a werewolf and a soulless human). She uses her powers to find out everyone's secrets, even thousand-year-old fuzzy ones.

As you can see, the tea search is more of a vehicle for other adventures than a major part of the book itself. But many characters do have opinions on tea, and Carriger writes some funny tea-related puns.

Faith Hunter, the Jane Yellowrock series, which illustrates a type of literature called urban fantasy. Author Faith Hunter is an avid tea drinker. She’s active on Facebook, where she often discusses the teas she drinks and blends she makes with purchased loose leaf teas.

Tea plays a strong role in the Jane Yellowrock series. Almost every book in the series discusses tea in some way, including single-estate loose leaf tea, certain teapots, and  the function of a tea cozy. Book 1 of the series, Skinwalker, establishes the Jane Yellowrock character and is typical of how Hunter works tea into her narratives.

Jane is the last of her kind—a skinwalker of Cherokee descent who can turn into any creature she desires and hunts vampires for a living. But now she’s been hired by Katherine Fontaneau, one of the oldest vampires in New Orleans and the madam of Katies’ Ladies, to hunt a powerful rogue vampire who is killing other vampires and has attacked numerous tourists and cops.

There's more to Hunter’s story than just tracking a rogue, though. She has created an intricate plot that includes vampire politics as well as the motives of multiple players: Leo Pellissier, blood master of the city; his blood servant, George Dumas; Antoine, a witch and cook in a popular restaurant; and Rick LaFleur, a local "bad boy" who wanted the rogue job and appears a bit too curious about Jane's business.

Hunter sets her story in New Orleans, where the city provides a lush background. She gives us a good feel for the details, from cobblestone streets to decorative balconies, to the overbearing heat and humidity. Jane herself is a very direct person, but she describes things in enough detail to keep the story interesting and unique, from teapots to the smell of a motorcycle. 

From Katherine Peterson: As a skinwalker, Jane mainly shifts (through meditation) into a big cat for hunting at night. But Beast, as she calls her inner cat, has her own personality and share's Jane's soul. Beast is dominant when Jane is in animal form; Jane is dominant in human form. Jane doesn't control Beast; they co-exist. Hunter seamlessly fuses the two personalities together, so the reader doesn't question their dialogue and understands both the harmony and the disputes.

Amidst a bordello full of real “ladies of the night,” and a hot Cajun biker with a panther tattoo who stirs her carnal desire, Jane must stay focused and complete her mission—or else the next skin she’ll need to save just may be her own.

Tea fiction and non-fiction covered by Nicole Wilson’s blog (edited)

From https://www.teaformeplease.com/fiction-for-tea-lovers/

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See

This book follows the life of a young girl named Li-Yan—a member of the Akha ethnic minority living on Nannuo Mountain. The author drops references to tea that will make any puerh lover happy. Everything from the tea market crash of 2007 to modernizing Yunnan are occurrences in Li-Yan’s life. Even our beloved World Tea Expo gets a mention along with familiar names like Dr. Selena Ahmed.

For All the Tea in China by Sarah Rose

Sarah Rose studied Robert Fortune's journals about agricultural espionage and turned them into a engaging work of historical fiction. There’s something for everyone here, even if you’re not specifically interested in tea. Who doesn’t love a bit of espionage and adventure?

Teatime for the Firefly by Shona Patel

In her debut novel Shona Patel tells the story of Layla Roy, a young girl living in Assam during India’s struggle for independence. While it isn’t directly related to tea, a good portion of the plot takes place on a fictional tea plantation. The details are very historically accurate, particularly the relationships between plantation staff and the work force.

The Teahouse Fire by Ellis Avery

Tells the story of an orphaned American girl who is taken in by the daughter of an important tea master. The story is very compelling, especially if you have a passion for tea. How often do you see Rikyu discussed in a fictional novel? My one qualm was that there are few adult scenes that seemed a bit out of place from the rest of the story. Still, it was a great read and I would definitely recommend if you have an interest in tea and Japanese culture.

Memory of Water by Emmi Itäranta

Memory of Water is a dystopian tale that focuses on a young girl who is studying to become a tea master. Elements are definitely drawn from Chanoyu but the author doesn’t make many specific cultural references. In this future world, water has become a precious resource that is carefully protected by tea masters. I found myself realizing that I take for granted the fact that I can fill up my kettle from the faucet without a second thought.

Steeped In Evil by Laura Childs

I'm not much of a murder mystery reader but when I was asked to review this tea infused novel, I just couldn’t resist. I am so glad that I did because it turned out to be a real page turner. The main character, Theodesia Browning, is a redheaded tea shop owner with a penchant for getting tangled up in murder investigations. I was worried that I might be a little lost having never read other books from this series but that was not an issue at all. The author’s style is wonderfully colorful and descriptive.

Ming Tea Murder by Laura Childs

In this volume Theodesia and the rest of the Indigo Tea Shop gang investigate a murder that involved an antique tea house. Just as with Steeped in Evil, I loved all of the tea references woven throughout the story. This is only the second book in this series that I’ve read but I feel a bit attached to the characters. I love Theodesia’s independent streak and Drayton’s good-natured haughtiness. There were so many twists and turns that I was left guessing right up until the very end.

The Ancient Tea Horse Road by Jeff Fuchs (non-fiction)

The hardcover version of this book is out of print and extremely rare but thankfully there is a Kindle version available on Amazon. My obvious motivation for reading it was the tea but I quickly found myself drawn in by the people, their stories and the element of adventure. Jeff’s voracious appetite for tea and knowledge of the many ethnic minorities of China and Tibet made him the perfect person to tell this tale. Peppered with humor and lots of puerh, it follows his journey along the ancient tea horse road (also known as Cha Ma Gu Dao).

Mountain passes and small villages help put together a picture of what life was like when this road was a vital lifeline of trade in China. In writing this book, he has preserved an oral history that might otherwise have been lost. The Kindle version had a few typos (yes, I’m THAT person) but otherwise was a very good rendition. There a few small photographs scattered throughout but they are all beautiful shots. If you enjoy the book, I recommend perusing Jeff’s website, Tea and Mountain Journals. His company, Jalam Teas, is also definitely worth checking out.

Puer Tea: Ancient Caravans and Urban Chic (Non-fiction on Culture, Place, and Nature) Kindle Edition, by Jinghong Zhang 

Review from Nicole:

I’m always on the lookout for new tea books to read. This one was ordered after a recommendation from Tony Gebely of World of Tea fame. I was especially drawn to it because I had never seen an English language book devoted exclusively to puerh tea. Although it is a scholarly study, I found it to be an engaging and fascinating read. Focusing mainly on Yiwu, Zhang gives a thorough analysis of the recent peaks and valleys of the puerh industry in China. I was previously aware of the 2007 market crash but I did not have all of the details.

The videos that the author shot during her research add another layer. Part of my enjoyment of tea stems from gaining an understanding of the people and culture that produced it. Whether it’s a woman picking tea as she complains about her daughter-in-law or a tense tea room negotiation, each video demonstrates the talking points in the book extremely well.

Book reviews are always hard because I don’t want to give too much away. Simply put, this is a book that every tea lover needs to read. Even if you aren’t a fan of puerh it gives an excellent window into the workings of the Chinese tea industry.

Review from Amazon.com:

Puer tea has been grown for centuries in the Six Great Tea Mountains of Yunnan Province, and in imperial China it was a prized commodity, traded to Tibet by horse or mule caravan via the so-called Tea Horse Road and presented as tribute to the emperor in Beijing. In the 1990s, as the tea’s noble lineage and unique process of aging and fermentation were rediscovered, it achieved cult status both in China and internationally. The tea became a favorite among urban connoisseurs who analyzed it in language comparable to that used in wine appreciation and paid skyrocketing prices. In 2007, however, local events and the international economic crisis caused the Puer market to collapse.

Puer Tea traces the rise, climax, and crash of this phenomenon. With ethnographic attention to the spaces in which Puer tea is harvested, processed, traded, and consumed, anthropologist Jinghong Zhang constructs a vivid account of the transformation of a cottage handicraft into a major industry—with predictable risks and unexpected consequences.

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References:

“Fiction & Literature Book Reviews,” http://bit.ly/34g4RCT

Katherine Peterson, A review of Skinwalker (Copyright © 2009). https://www.sfsite.com/08b/sw302.htm

Nicole Wilson, “Fiction Books for Tea Lovers,” http://bit.ly/2JxpC4Q