Author: Laurie Nienhaus

ISBN: 9780979238901

Tea, reading, and conversation go so perfectly well together in literature and real life that teatime has become just another term for get together. And if that sounds a contrivance, take an enjoyable walk across the sundry scenes of teatime depicted in some of the much celebrated works of English literature, as compiled by Laurie Nienhaus in her latest book And Then It Was Teatime (Gilded Lily Publishing, Florida, 2007).

And Then It Was Teatime includes a collection of choice excerpts from literary works along with several sketches, illustrations, and vignettes that produce the ambience of timeless classicism. The scenes painted in the words of famous authors relate to tea-its making, serving, effect, taste, aroma, and its place in one’s very sensibilities. Through the common flair of this universal drink, the author connects her readers to the history of ideas and the view and norms of our past. A remarkable job of its own kind!

In the pages of this book, one finds an appeal to a more peaceful demeanor: teatime had and still has its set of manners to be observed by men and women. It is a social platform for conversation and, as one writer points out, teatime signifies a time of peace. The cup of beverage cherished by millions of people around the world is a powerful therapeutic means for dissipating their worries, anxieties, apprehensions, and bitterness. And Then It Was Teatime instantiates this quality of tea in only 100 pages.               

Laurie Nienhaus’s book renovates the passion for two fine things in its readers: a nice cup of tea and fine literature.     

The above review was contributed by: Ernest Dempsey is the pen name of Karim Khan. A founding member of the World Audience Inc. (New York), Dempsey is the author of three books: The Biting Age, Islands of Illusion, and The Blue Fairy and Other Stories. He writes articles, professional book reviews, essays, and poetry. He is also an interviewer. Currently Dempsey is working on his fourth book.