About Sweet Tea
The anniversary of Olivia’s daddy’s death happens to land on the same day the world remembers John Lennon. While TV stations replay Beatles songs, in 1984, Olivia’s mama gets swept back into her own memories—and her behavior grows harder for Olivia to explain away.
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A chance comment on a talk show flips a switch in Olivia’s mind: Mama might not just be quirky—she might actually be sick. Suddenly, sixteen-year-old Olivia is thrown into an adult world, searching for answers and strength she didn’t know she had. With no family to lean on, she finds help in the most unexpected places: a peculiar but kind stranger, and a friend Mama makes inside the psychiatric ward.
In this Southern tale, Olivia shows that through faith and determination, she can conquer it all.
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Reviews
"In this day and age, society still finds it difficult to face the challenges families encounter that are living with a mentally ill parent. Ms. Decker's novel brings these issues to light in a realistic manner that engages readers as well as helps them understand…"- Christine Harris, Co-President, Middlesex County, NJ NAMI
"Decker brings to life the chaos, confusion and poignancy of loving and living with a mentally ill mother. I couldn't stop reading, even when my heart was aching and my brain was cringing." - Shari Sanford,Paperback Exchange Bookstore
"Compelling and real. Everyone, teenagers and adults can relate to this story. I cried, laughed and learned!"- Shari Stein, Media Specialist, J. P. Stevens High School
"Wendy Lynn Decker has a very unique and talented gift of writing. I really enjoyed the down home style that assimilates a Tom Sawyer genre and I wouldn't be surprised if this book became recommended reading for contemporary school systems." -Ray Costa, LPC, LCADC, NCC
"Sweet Tea is a fine young adult story...So many titles on mental illness narrow the focus to coping and neglect the overall bigger picture of how home life with mental illness can interact with a wider world outside home's front door...Sweet Tea offers a bittersweet taste of what life's all about, and will immerse young adult and adult readers alike in a life well lived." -D. Donovan, Book Reviewer, Midwest Book Review