All The Tea In China: A Novel

"All the Tea in China" is about honor, murder, redemption, dysfunctional families, good people, bad people. some sex, love (of course), passion, greed, infidelity, fidelity, living up to the high-flung principles of Irish Protestantism, guilt, embezzlement, rich people, working class people, parts of Philadelphia no one ever talks about, Hermann Hesse, self-delusion, God, gods, and more redemption. No doctors, drugs or dogs, though. Just like Tolstoy, only not in Russia, not about rich landowners, and not as good. Maybe Nicholas Sparks meets Tolstoy. 1967: With the help of a friend, Tom Mulvaney, a reformed ex-con, Janie Schweigart desperatly flees an abusive family, leaving central Pennsylvania for Philadelphia where she finds employment and advances her education. Things go well for a short time until Tom is accused of a crime he didn't commit, falsely identified and sentenced to prison for armed robbery. Janie drops out of college and works two jobs trying to save enough money to pay for Tom's lawyers, and to get Tom a new trial. Eventually, her need for money drives her to accept a position with "Elegant Escorts." The job with "Elegant" pays well but brings her unwanted admirers and a murdered client entangled in a blackmail plot. Meanwhile, Barnard, a clever young fellow who has been vigorously embezzling from the bank where he works, convinced he, like the hero of Hess's "Demian" bears the "Mark of Cain," thinks he has found his soul-mate in Janie. He follows her, stalks her, and dreams of making her his own. What follows is a tragedy of errors that Janie survives only by luck and the thinnest of circumstances.