Southern Culture … Old Friendships … Family TragedyOne phone call from Renny to come home and “see about” the capricious Ava and Celia Wakefield decides to overlook her distressful past in the name of friendship.For three reflective days at Renny’s lake house in Heber Springs, Arkansas, the three childhood friends reunite and examine life, love, marriage, and the ties that bind, even though … marriage, and the ties that bind, even though Celia’s personal story has yet to be healed. When the past arrives at the lake house door in the form of her old boyfriend, Celia must revisit the life she’d tried to outrun.
As her idyllic coming of age alongside her best friend, Little Tea, on her family’s ancestral grounds in bucolic Como, Mississippi unfolds, Celia realizes there is no better place to accept her own story than in this circle of friends who have remained beside her throughout the years. Theirs is a friendship that can talk any life sorrow into a comic tragedy, and now that the racial divide in the Deep South has evolved, Celia wonders if friendship can triumph over history.
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I was delighted to be asked to review an advance copy of Little Tea due in May.
Little Tea is a simple title that belies a story that is both complex and compelling. Beautifully written, the novel moves seamlessly between the 1980s Memphis and the present, as we become fascinated by the family dynamics, and events that would change the lives of those touched by them. It is a book you will be reluctant to put down, and with some unexpected twists to the story it will keep you captivated to the end.
The story begins with three friends who arrange to meet in a lake house at Heber Springs Arkansas, a few hours outside Memphis. They are coming together in support of Ava, who is experiencing a crisis in her marriage and nomadic lifestyle. The other two women are very different, with Renny the self-sufficient and straight talking veterinarian and Celia, who the author describes as the ‘the friend in the middle, neutral ground, the interpreter’. She is also the narrator of the story as it unfolds.
Others from the past arrive at the lake house, stirring up long forgotten emotions, resulting in Celia in particular, to revisit her childhood and teenage years, despite it raising painful memories she has chosen to bury for over twenty years.
We return at pivotal moments in her story to the 1980s, and begin to see faint cracks appearing in both family relationships and key friendships, as long accepted social mores continue to fade into the past. Just because a law changes, adherence does not happen overnight, particularly when a family is multi-generational, and the young are quicker to adopt the new and more inclusive approach to the way they interact socially.
This is where we meet Little T or Thelonia, daughter of the foreman of the Wakefield cotton fields and plantation, whose family has been in service to the Wakefields for generations. Little T and Celia at age ten are best friends, and with Celia’s brother Hayward two years older often in attendance, they have the freedom to roam the plantation and surrounding countryside together.
All the strands of this compelling story come back to Little T at the centre. She is the catalyst of the events that unfold and will change the lives of the Wakefield family forever. What is acceptable at ten years old is frowned upon in adulthood, and even those who appear to have embraced the new future, hide deeply ingrained prejudices.
The book is beautifully written with a flow that is not disrupted by the time shifts within the story. The characters are wonderfully crafted and even those with more than their share of human flaws, are easy to visualise and connect to. It is a book you will be reluctant to put down, and with some unexpected twists to the story it will keep you captivated to the end.
This is a spectacular book. It reads like a classic. It deserves more than 5 stars. Very talented writer. Highly recommend
This is a beautiful novel about friendships past and present and letting go of the past so that you can be happy today and plan for tomorrow. The novel takes place in Memphis and the descriptions are so well done that you can feel the humid summer heat.
Renny, Ava and Celia have been friends for almost their entire lives but now it’s been ten years since they’ve seen each other. Celia has moved to California and the two other friends remained in Mississippi. When Celia gets a call from Renny asking her to come visit as soon as possible to help Ava, Celia is there the next weekend. The three friends spend the weekend in a lake house while they re-visit many of their memories and talk about their futures. The novel goes flawlessly back and forth between two time lines – present day and the 1980s. As the friends visit their past, they are reminded of the south that they grew up in – prejudice between races and classes, no choices for women beyond marriage, and the accepted behavior of southern women during this time period. Renny and Ava have accepted their memories of growing up, but Celia is unable to let go of hers. One of her strong memories was about her childhood friend Little Tea. Little Tea’s family had been working for her family for generations and Celia and Little Tea were best friends. Their friendship was accepted when they were young but when they grew older friends and family were not as accepting. Despite all of the Civil Rights laws that had been passed, racial prejudice was still rampant in the South.
This is one of those few novels that you want to read fast to find out what happens but you also want to read slowly to savor the writing. The main characters were very well written – they were all very different but together they balanced each other out. This is a novel of friendship and love, family and forgiveness and a look at the prejudice and social mores of the south in the 1980s. It was also a look at female friendships and how they help form our memories and help us plan our futures. This book definitely has some humor especially in the conversations between the three friends but it also has some tears as memories are discussed. It’s a powerful look at friendship that I won’t soon forget.
Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.
Little Tea by Claire Fullerton explores some of the more traditional southern motifs, complete with plantation homes and racial tension. Three childhood friends come together at a lake in Arkansas where an old boyfriend forces them to face the past. Through the voice of the main character, Celia Wakefield, Fullerton explores the evolution of racial relations in Mississippi. White daughter of a wealthy old southern family, Celia befriends the daughter of the black couple who runs her family’s plantation. Tucked away in the country in 1980s, their friendship flourishes. However, once the friends leave the plantation behind it becomes more difficult to navigate a mixed-race friendship in a world not quite ready for such things.
2020 Gold Medal Winner in Southern Fiction in the International Reader’s Favorite Book Awards
Stunned, and with emotions charging through me, I looked up from reading the final lines of Claire Fullerton’s fourth novel as my heart and mind absorbed everything that happened in this narrative that alternates between the 1980s and present. In an ending I didn’t see coming, I blinked back tears as I pondered over how the author brought the story full circle.
For this reader, the imagery flowed over me like a healing. All the joys and sorrows of the story melded together into one satisfying grand finale.
At the heart of the novel is narrator Celia Wakefield who spent her childhood and youth navigating back and forth between her family’s Southern Colonial house in an affluent Central Gardens neighborhood in Memphis, TN and the family’s sprawling Wakefield Plantation in Como, MS. Until the age of ten, Celia only knew life in the bucolic surroundings of the large working farm where she lived with her father, a gentleman cotton farmer, her beautiful mother, and two older brothers, John, who carried an air of superiority, and Hayward, gifted and a kindhearted golden boy. Celia’s best friend is a black girl nicknamed Little Tea. Little Tea lives with her father and mother, Thelonious and Elvita Winfrey, in a small cottage on the plantation grounds. Thelonious overseas the crops and Elvita keeps things running smoothly at the big house. In some ways, Little Tea and her parents feel like an extension of the Wakefield family. A white family and a black family working in harmony to keep the farm running.
The story opens with a grownup Celia living in Malibu, CA. One phone call finds her on a flight back to Memphis where she eventually meets up with her best friends from Memphis days, Ava and Renny. While there are several storylines going between past and present, I found myself drawn to those scenes from the past, especially when they involved Celia and her immediate family along with Little Tea and her mom and dad. With a deft hand, the author has created complex characters I was totally invested in.
My favorite characters were Hayward, Little Tea, and Celia. And because I’m a dog lover, I fell in love with Hayward’s loyal pup, Rufus. At times I found Celia’s brother, John, unlikeable, not to mention the heavy-handed patriarch and matriarch, Celia’s wealthy grandparents who occasionally dropped by the family farm to check on things and see about their “investment.”
While much of the story revolves around Celia spending a weekend with Ava and Renny at Renny’s lake house in Heber Springs, AR, these present-day scenes are important as these two friends are key to bringing Celia back to the south to face her past. Two of my favorite lines from the novel occur in these sections. From page fifty-one: “I’d forgotten that after you manage to outrun something, there are those in your life who can call you back at the drop of a hat.” And, “There are some parts of your history your friends won’t let you outrun.”
Pat Conroy’s widow, Cassandra King Conroy, a noted novelist in her own right, says this about the novel: “Claire Fullerton skillfully draws us into a lost world of Southern traditions and norms where past tragedies cast long, dark shadows on present-day lives, and no one ever truly escapes.”
The tragedy that unfolds in the novel got me to thinking. Anytime there’s trouble that breaks out at a gathering, there’s always that one instigator, that one person who sets off a chain of events and gets away with it. In this case, it’s a loss so tragic it emotionally cripples several families as they cope or don’t cope with the aftermath. The story also deals with the struggle of going along with family expectations and social norms or what can happen if you buck the system. The author tackles these tough subjects with courage and aplomb. Claire Fullerton is at her best when writing about family dynamics and southern culture.
The story explores interracial friendships and relationships at a time when society in general didn’t welcome such mingling. Even today there are those who want to separate the races. This is a timely story about race, family, friendship, betrayal, loss, and redemption.
An important book not to be missed!
Pour your favorite beverage and settle in with Little Tea. You won’t be disappointed! I hope you love the ending as much as I did.
Little Tea is a 2020 Pulpwood Queens Book Club read.
Have you ever had a book haunt you long after you finish the last page? A book that is so evocative of a particular time and place that it stimulates the senses? Claire Fullerton’s ‘Little Tea’ did that for me, and left this Yankee wishing she could take a trip to the south just to wander the beautiful Mississippi woods that are so eloquently described here.
At first glance, the story seems to be about three childhood friends who meet up to help one of them sort out her strained marriage. It soon becomes clear that ‘Little Tea’ is more than that, with most of the action taking place in the 1980s. Here, on the beautiful Wakefield Plantation, main character Celia bonds with ‘Little Tea’ Winfrey, the daughter of her father’s farm manager. She meets the local golden boy and falls in love, her life a caricature of perfection until an unexpected event changes everything.
Fullerton’s strength as a writer lies in her lush descriptions of Southern Living, as well as the intricate emotions of her characters, each of whom take on a life of their own. I cared about them, became invested in what happened to them, and was thoroughly entertained (and surprised) by the time I finished reading.
This is a novel written for those who appreciate a multi-faceted story about the strength of friendship and the power of human kindness during difficult times. I cannot wait to read more books by this fabulous author.
I am in awe! Claire Fullerton writes a beautiful book. She is upper eschillon, top notch! I would put her right up there with Pat Conroy. Her book Little Tea is amazing. I love southern life and was not privileged to live here during the days of plantations and mint juleps but Claire brought me into that time period and gave me a taste of it.
The book takes place in two time periods now and back somewhere in the 1980’s. Three lifelong friends get together for a long weekend to help one of them figure out her marriage and what she is going to do with the rest of her life. You know how it is when old friends get together? They talk about old times, growing up and their teen years. That is the part that takes place in the 80’s and the rest of it is in today’s time. Folks, I loved every minute of their reminiscing and how they fell right back into their old behaviors. I wanted to be their friend!
It was a fun read but this book also dealt with some pretty tough subjects. There was a gay brother, an alcoholic father, mental illness, tragedy, death, race relations and divorce. This book made you think about some hard subjects and about what is going on in our society today. Claire Fullerton lays it all out for you and allows you draw your own conclusions. Don’t waste any time getting your own copy. You’re gonna love it!
I won this book through the generosity of the author. This is a fair and honest review of my own thoughts. Thank you, Claire!
Southern fiction has always fascinated me for its evocation of that culture and language, the iconic characters and descriptions of environments. Claire Fullerton’s Little Tea more than satisfies a reader’s fascination with world she creates in Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi. In the way we all try to look back to make sense of how we’ve gotten to where we are approaching middle age, three childhood BFF gather and move forward the narrative of their connections. Race, family ties, mental illness and ambition are the themes that bind and inform this story with conflict, history and ultimately love. A wonderful story beautifully told.
Little Tea is a story of many layers. The author deftly alternates this story of the South in the 1980s with the present day. While racism was outlawed, the South still bristled with hatred from a few of the privileged.
Ava, Celia, and Renny had been friends since they were thirteen years old. When Ava decides she needs to change her life and contemplates leaving her husband of 23 years, the three friends meet at Renny’s lake house in Heber Springs, Arkansas, not far from Memphis. Unbeknownst to Celia and Renny, Ava arranges to meet her high school boyfriend, Mark, at the lake house. Celia’s ex-boyfriend, Tate, is in Memphis at the same time and wants to see Celia. This stirs up a lot of memories Celia has worked hard to bury. Renny is the voice of calm and reason and having divorced her husband, has no need for another man in her life. Will all three be able to come to terms with the issues they’ve tried to bury?
This is a story of family, friendships, love, hate, and race relations still evident in the 1980’s. It is about children growing to adulthood but never really leaving all the entanglements of their youth behind. The author keeps you guessing about some of the characters, revealing only what you need to know until she decides you need to know more.
Claire Fullerton crafts a beautiful story that is both pleasurable and heartrending at times. Her characters are so well fleshed out, you feel you know each one personally. She seamlessly moves from one period to the other and back throughout the book allowing us to know the South through Ava, Renny and Celia’s eyes. For those of us who are Northerners, it gives us insight into how far reaching the fingers of hate can go.
I loved Little Tea. It is one of those books you can’t put down and then never seems to leave you.
Meandering through back and forth through time, small towns new to most of us, and rural spaces abounding in flowers with melodically unfamiliar names and sneaky critters, the world of Little Tea comes at the reader saturated in the physical and cultural authenticity of its setting.
“The thing about being a Southern girl is they let you run wild until the time comes to shape you.”
Coming of age can measured in decades when complicated by the need to challenge entrenched boundaries of race, friendship, sexuality, tradition. The author herself, her protagonist, and her title character compellingly probe and test a serrated border: a girl can take herself out of the South, but can she ever fully take the South out of her? Little Tea, in Claire Fullerton’s trademark poetic but unflinching prose, confronts universal questions of how we define home, and where lies the tipping point between loyalty to self vs family fealty.
Book Review: Little Tea by author, Claire Fullerton
From beginning to end, Claire Fullerton sets this beautifully unique story in motion and leads us on another unforgettable journey. A journey that is steeped rich in history and full of the emotional elements that make this a true southern family saga.
The power of friendship, tragedy, betrayal, love and forgiveness, connect the reader throughout each dramatic aspect of this bittersweet tale of the South.
The compelling descriptions through past, present and future elements within this narrative, bring a firm sense of how three close-knit childhood friends, Celia, Renny and Ava, reunite throughout the ebb and flow of life itself, experience the fulfillment of humor, and learn acceptance as to the individuals they are, and how those friendships continue to evolve~ no matter their differences, their haunts, their flaws. Or will they…
With the struggles against the grips of prejudice and circumstance, along with the tender ease of its delightful southern whispers, this multi-generational narrative is nothing short of captivating.
Little Tea is a story that will be with you long after the last page has been turned as to its emotional tug, impressive weave of true southern spark, and will leave you wanting more…
5 Stars
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Novels N Latte Book Club
Claire Fullerton, author of “Little Tea’ has written an emotional, poignant, memorable, captivating, intriguing, and thought-provoking novel. The genres for this novel are Southern Fiction, Women’s Fiction, and Domestic Fiction. There is some Historical background mentioned in this story. There are two timelines mentioned in this story, the 1980’s in the south and the present day. The author describes her characters as complex and complicated. This is also a coming of age book. This is a book about family, friendship, betrayal, loyalty, forgiveness, love, and hope.
The author discusses important issues that existed in the south in the 1980s, discrimination, and the differences between the poor and richer classes. Sometimes you have to revisit the past, to accept what is in the present and what will be in the future. I love that Claire Fullerton vividly describes the characters, events, and landscape in the story.
In the present, Celia who now lives in California with her husband gets an urgent phone call from her long time friend Renny pleading with her to come to her Lakehouse in Arkansas to discuss and deal with their troubled friend Ava. Celia decides to go, and what is supposed to be a helpful visit to her friends, becomes a visit to the past, memories, and tragedy. Is it possible to learn, forgive, and move on? I would highly recommend this novel to readers who enjoy reading about southern culture.
LITTLE TEA by Claire Fullerton is a touching and emotional story of enduring friendship, young love and devastating betrayal that captivated me from the very first page and never let me go until the stunning conclusion. Renny, Ava and Celia have been close friends since they were teens in the 1980s in Memphis, Tennessee. In the aftermath of a terrible family tragedy, Celia attempts to put the past behind her by moving far away her childhood home. Now living in Malibu, California, she is removed from the details of the lives of her family and friends. When Renny calls Celia to come home to Memphis and help their friend Ava with a life-changing decision, Celia agrees to spend a few days with them at Renny’s nearby lake house. Little do they know that they will end up confronting the past in ways they could not have imagined. The story is narrated by Celia and alternates seamlessly between the 1980s and the present, revisiting the family relationships, friendships and pivotal events that led up to the current reunion. The characters and relationships are wonderfully-portrayed. Compelling themes such as Southern culture and racial relations are at the heart of the story, but it also explores love, marriage and friendship in a heartfelt and engaging way. I loved this beautifully-written book and recommend it most highly. Thank you to the author and publisher for the chance to read an early copy.
“2020 Gold Medal Winner in Southern Fiction in the International Reader’s Favorite Book Awards”
Gorgeous writing! I can almost taste the sweet tea and feel the balmy afternoons breeze over my skin. Fullerton immerses you in the landscape and sentiments of the American South. The story moves deftly between present time and the character’s childhoods, where the roots of their troubles are firmly anchored. Changing attitudes and generational prejudice are front and center in this poignant story where the next generation teaches their elders a few lessons in tolerance, the unbreakable bonds of friendship, and ultimately love.
Claire Fullerton Examines Southern Life and the Bonds of Love and Friendship in “Little Tea.” I enjoyed interviewing the author on Charlotte Readers Podcast.
“Little Tea” by Claire Fullerton
I really enjoyed reading “Little Tea” which is beautifully written. It is a story about maturing, love, racism, secrets, tragic friendships and true friendship as well. The characters bond with one another as the story continues. I would highly recommend “Little Tea” to anyone who enjoys reading this type of story theme.
Little Tea is a beautiful, lyrical read! It’s Southern fiction at its best!!!
It didn’t take me long to realize this book was going to be a gem! The author pulled me in wholeheartedly from the very beginning! The synopsis doesn’t even scratch the surface. It is a story about childhood friends, but it is so much more. Celia returns to her home and friends, Renny and Ava, but the story isn’t about just their friendship. Celia had another best friend growing up, Little Tea. There are some real unresolved issues that revolved around that friendship, and this trip will finally help Celia to make some peace with her tragic past.
I really enjoyed the moments between Celia, Renny and Ava, especially in the form of flashbacks with Celia and her friends. It brought back tender moments for me thinking back on my two childhood friends. I’m still close to them today, and it made me realize they know me in ways no one else does. Fullerton also delves into the issue of racism, and she does it in a way that really made me think. I have to also add that the ending of the book was one of the best endings I have ever come across.
There are writers who just write books, and there are writers that write literature, and Claire Fullerton writes wonderful literature! I felt like I could be sitting with her in a cafe as she tells me this emotional, complicated, and beautiful story of friendship, life, heartbreak, and finally healing. I highly recommend reading Little Tea. One final note: I’m hoping maybe Fullerton will give us a sequel to see how these amazing women are doing!
Dollycas’s Thoughts
Now with the passing of Congressman John Lewis, acclaimed civil rights leader, was the perfect time for me to read this book. Celia and Little Tea grew up as close as sisters in a time, the 1980s, when some people still believe in segregation, including some in Celia’s family. But these girls had such a strong bond that couldn’t be broken.
In present time, Celia gets together with her other childhood friends Ava and Renny at Renny’s lake house because Ava is having a personal crisis. What evolves Is 3 days discussing life, marriage, choices made, regrets, and triumphs. Celia realizes she still has many things in her life she has avoided and needs to deal with before she can move on.
Ms. Fullerton has written a beautiful, compelling Southern story that grabbed me from the start. The book moves back and forth between the ’80s and present-day with ease. The author has a wonderfully descriptive writing style that brings not only the characters to life but the setting. The characters are strong and develop more within the pages. The settings at times are haunting and other times soothing. This book tells a story rich in history and friendship. It is an emotional story filled with family drama, addiction, depression, love, hate, and more that has stuck with me since I read the final word.
The journey Celia, Ava, and Renny take over the course of the weekend goes beyond what I first imagined was going to happen. Little Tea is a treasure to be savored. This is the first Claire Fullerton novel I have read but it definitely will not be my last.
A Touching Tale!
Little Tea is a truly mesmerizing and captivating story. I was completely consumed with these characters. With beautiful hypnotic writing, you are completely lost into these pages.
Clair Fullerton breaths life into this story, you can actually feel it’s heartbeat. These characters touched my heart.
This is my first Clair Fullerton novel and it won’t be my last.
Little Tea is a beautifully crafted book about three friends, Celia, Renny and Ava. It’s about the complexities of friendship and family, but also of love. These three friends have maintained a friendship over decades. They get together in Arkansas for a much needed retreat. The characters are well drawn and believable. I felt like I knew them. The descriptions of the South are vivid and you are there. Using exquisite prose Claire Fullerton takes us into the South. This is my first book by this author but it most certainly won’t be my last. I highly recommend this book.