Mystic Tea, Paperback

Independent Publisher Book Awards

Visionary Fiction

A community of quirky, mismatched, and endearing women struggle to find meaning and purpose on a ramshackle monastery in upstate New York. Having spent their lives in service to a church that seems to no longer serve them, they are confused about their own futures and the future of the entire monastery. Led by Mike, the practical no-nonsense prioress, and Augusta, the grand ancient mystic hermit, they are joined by Gemma, a self-punishing novice, and Arielle, a firebrand jailhouse conversion who was sent there out of rehab by a "sort of angel." The personalities, commitments, philosophies and beliefs of these and all the characters conflict and converge in ways at once perilous and enlightening. Throughout the tempestuous journey, Augusta's magical sacred teas draw the inevitable closer and closer. Mystic Tea is a contemporary love story between young and old, franchised and disenfranchised, pedestrian and mystic. Most of all, it is a story of female empowerment as the women find the courage to confront epic challenges, creating a surprising future from the oppressive ashes of the past. It will make you smile as much as it will make you think.

Rea Nolan Martin spent twenty years as a writer, creative director, and creative consultant to advertising and PR agencies in Chicago and New York before engaging full-time as a freelance editor, teacher, blogger, and author of mystical fiction. She is a former adjunct professor of writing in the MAW program at Manhattanville College in Purchase, NY, where she initiated the transformation of the student magazine, INKWELL, into a nationally-recognized, award-winning literary journal. In addition to short stories and poetry, Rea has written and published two novels, THE SUBLIME TRANSFORMATION OF VERA WRIGHT and MYSTIC TEA. She blogs regularly for "The Huffington Post" in the Religion and GPS for the Soul sections. Her full bio, as well as blogs and author info are available on the website www.reanolanmartin.com as well as on The Huffington Post.