A Cup of Tea
A Novel of 1917
By Amy Ephron
(Harper Perennial, Paperback, 9780060786205, 224pp.)
Publication Date: July 2005
Categories: Historical - General, Literary, Romance - Historical
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Rosemary Fell was born into privilege. She has wealth, wellconnected friends, and a handsome fiance, Philip Alsop. Finally she has everything she wants.
It is then, in a moment of beneficence, that Rosemary invites Eleanor Smith, a penniless young woman she sees under a streetlamp in the rain, into her home for a cup of tea. While there, Rosemary sees Eleanor exchange an unmistakable look with Philip, and she sends Eleanor on her way. But she cannot undo this chance encounter, and it leads to a tempestuous and allconsuming love triangle until the tides of war throw all their lives off balance.
Inspired by a classic Katherine Mansfield short story, A Cup of Tea engages with its vivid and often amusing cast of characters, wonderful period detail, brilliant evocation of the uncertain days of World War I, and delightfully spare and picturesque sense of story.
Amy Ephron is the bestselling author of the acclaimed novels One Sunday Morning and A Cup of Tea. Her magazine pieces and essays have appeared in Vogue; Saveur; House Beautiful; the National Lampoon; the Los Angeles Times; the Huffington Post; Defamer; her own online magazine, One for the Table; and various other print and online publications. She recently directed a short film, Chloe@3AM, which was featured at the American Cinematheques Focus on Female Directors Short Film Showcase in January 2011. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Alan Rader, and any of their five children who happen to drop in.












