
Genre:
Historical Fiction
Themes:
Adventure / Survival
Against All Odds
Coming of Age
Coming Out
Heat Level:
Sweet (kissing, holding hands, etc., but no other on-the-page physical intimacy)
Archetypes:
Writer/ Author
Geographic Location:
United States: Mid-Atlantic
Setting:
Big City / Urban
Suburban
Sexual / Gender Identity:
Lesbian
Tea Leaves
Golden Crown Literary Award (Goldie)
By Janet Mason
The story of an adult daughter who, on finding out that her mother has fourth-stage terminal cancer, returns to care for her.
In this forthright personal memoir, author and poet Janet Mason reflects on the factory-worker lives of her mother and grandmother in working class Philadelphia while she copes with her mother’s final illness. Her mother’s feminist example and unwavering support of a lesbian daughter become increasingly poignant as Janet explores the choices not open to her mother that she made for herself.
Equally pressing is the sheer labor of dealing with medical misdiagnosis and subsequent treatment of her mother, and the toll it takes on her own relationship as she spends increasing hours in conversation with the woman who gave her life.
Tea Leaves is about daughters, mothers and women, their choices, and the never-ending circles of their entwined lives.