The Tea Ladies Of St Jude's Hospital

A light and enjoyable read with some mystery.

I would recommend this book.

Hilary is the manageress of the local hospital’s Marjorie Marshall Memorial Cafeteria which provides a cup of tea and a kindly word for staff, patients and visitors alike. It has been in existence for 50 years, is staffed wholly by volunteers and raises money for various hospital projects. Hilary likes things to be done properly and likes rules to be followed. Joy has worked in the café as an intern for a few months and is desperate to be taken on permanently – she is somewhat eccentric and has been late for her shift nearly every day since she started. Both these two are in their 70s. Chloe is 17 and has just joined the team because her parents think it will be useful work experience before she heads to University to follow her parents into a career in medicine. These three are not ever likely to be bosom buddies yet when the café is threatened with closure they start to work together to save it and find that they have more in common than they thought.

This book is meant to be an easy read, and in a sense it fulfills that aim. It is not deep and meaningful but there are a few heart-warming, feelgood moments as the spirited and somewhat mis-matched trio fight for what they believe in. Whilst not “laugh out loud” funny, there are certainly a few entertaining interludes.

However, on the whole I found the book a bit of a struggle. The biggest problem I had is that I didn’t really engage with any of the three main characters. Nor did I particularly like any of them. This does have an impact on the enjoyment of a book unfortunately (which is not to say that all literary characters have to be likeable). I think some of the reason for my lack of empathy is that the character development was a little lacking. I was having trouble forming a mental picture of the three tea ladies as their personalities did not seem to be consistent, cohesive or complete. Instead of being charming and twee, I found it a bit of a slog.

I probably would not recommend this book as I think there are a lot of books in this genre which are more engaging and entertaining.

People often drop into one's life just at the right moment for some reason. The three main characters of work in the tea room of a hospital, each bringing a needed lesson for the others. This is not a challenging book to read but it is a decent take on friendship and support. It is the sort of book to read when you want some simple distraction. It isn't a bad book. It just wasn't my sort of book.

The cover gives a good indication of what to expect in this book. It is an unchallenging and upbeat feel good story, a cosy kind of read.

I really found it very dull, the characters and the plot dragged on in a very twee kind of way, I didn't even finish it.