The Mettle of Myrtle

I have fulfilled an ambition this trip and read “Myrtle Takes Tea”.

Lady Devotea and I have also sipped tea with the author twice , and whilst we will respect that person’s wish to be a little mysterious, I am going to let the cat out of the bag and say that it is not a six-foot hare with a  sword and a tailored uniform.

But onto the book. Well, eventually…

I have seen what anxiety and depression do to people.

And tea helps.

And so do determination, bravery, friends, medication, professional help in many cases. Some people find God helps, some people prefer a bottle of brandy. Both are valid choices that an individual can make. I’d personally choose neither of those last two, but I’ve never suffered from these conditions so I probably never have to. I’ve met people who have chosen either and like everything else on the list, they can help a bit or a lot or not at all.

Myrtle Takes Tea takes an interesting approach, in that the eponymous heroine, Myrtle, is a 12-year-old who is experiencing depression and anxiety.

It’s not that she doesn’t have some root causes – she fits in neither at home or school – and I think it should be noted that not everyone who has an unhappy childhood ends up with issues, and indeed, vice versa. And in one sense, it’s a shame Myrtle feels so alone at school; as the teacher described in the book is not fit to teach; and that certainly takes me back to both my childhood and the time our kids were at school, as there were plenty of examples in both cases.

Mr Castleton’s tea shop, where Myrtle works part time – flouting various child labour laws, I’d suggest – is the only place she feels at home.

I don’t want to give the game away to much, but she ends up in the Kingdom of Tcha gadding about with The Duke of Earl Grey, who is a six-foot hare with a  sword and a tailored uniform.

One device I love in the  book is that in the mystical and wonderful Kingdom of Tcha they spell everything using British Spelling; in the horrific ‘real world” they use American. Take that, Noah Webster!

It’s hard to read a book aimed at children as an adult nearing 50. There are plot holes that you would drive a tractor through in most of them, but kids happily suspend belief.

The fact that I liked it matters not one bit. In fact, it really doesn’t matter what anyone who doesn’t need the book thinks.

The fact that this book exists is what is important. Someone, somewhere will pick it up today and it will help them a little or a lot.

But it will help.