The Tea House On Mulberry Street

Rating:
Summary: fine contemporary character study
Review: Daniel and Penny Stanley run Muldoon's, a popular place where people escape from their troubles to enjoy delicious pastries. However, in these modern times, the quaint tea rooms seem antiquated even if the cherry cheesecake is the best in town. The Stanleys also feel their relationship has become stale after seventeen years together. Ironically the tea house comes from her family yet Penny wants more out of life than the shop to include children but Muldoon's has always been Daniel's significant other; that's why he married Penny in the first place.

Patrons come here as much to escape as for the desserts. Wannabe artist Brenda Brown comes here to drown her sorrows that her art has never sold. Henry Blackstock enjoys breakfast here before opening his bookstore, but recently comes here to mourn in private the death of his beloved gardens killed by his wife to "house" her book club. Overweight and filled with self pity Sadie Smith cheats on her diet here while she believes her husband cheats on her. After two decades overseas, Clare Fitzgerald hopes to find her lost love that she met at Muldoon's twenty years ago. Soon a fire will cause these lost souls connected through Muldoon's to complete their introspective reassessment of life.

Well written in a soap opera way, the various subplots run throughout the novel linked by Muldoon's; enabling each of the prime players to seem real and unique. Surprisingly with all this bemoaning, the tale has a sugary (not just because of the desserts) aftertaste; still fans of contemporary character study starring an ensemble cast will want to read Sharon Owens' fine story (on a full stomach).

Harriet Klausner


Rating:
Summary: DELIGHTFUL TEA HOUSE
Review: I just finished reading The Tea House on Mulberry Street and believe that the review by Helenka Fuglewicz at Edwards Fuglewicz was written with an arrogant attitude. What makes them feel that their opinion should decide whether a book is a worthwhile read or not.

This book was not meant to be read by a "rocket scientist" or by a reader that enjoys the classics. It is a delightful, light and heartwarming read. The characters draw you in so that you feel as if you know them personally, that you can understand their problems and delimmas. Some times, when our own lives are filled with difficult circumstances, we need to read something that will transport us - to take us away from our own problems and read something that will help us to "lighten-up"

Book reviewers, in my opinion, are much like movie critics. What they have to say is only one person's opinion. I have seen many movies that the critics panned. I have enjoyed many of them and just wonder what side of the bed that critic fell out of on that particular day.

Read this delightful book and judge for yourself!