The Tea Party

by Charles L. Grant

Deerfield. A sleepy village untouched by time, full of quaint antiques, charming sites and friendly neighbors.

But outside of Deerfield, nature is still. No children play around the great stone house of Winterrest; no birds fly over its ancient trees...and tales of witches and demons fill the dreams of Deerfield's children.

Now the great house is stirring, stretching, hungry. Now the huge doors open, inviting unwary victims deep inside. The warm stone walls are heaving, the doors are pulsing...now the frenzied ritual must begin....

Genres: Horror, Fiction

312 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Charles Lewis Grant was a novelist and short story writer specializing in what he called "dark fantasy" and "quiet horror." He also wrote under the pseudonyms of Geoffrey Marsh, Lionel Fenn, Simon Lake, Felicia Andrews, and Deborah Lewis.

Grant won a World Fantasy Award for his novella collection Nightmare Seasons, a Nebula Award in 1976 for his short story "A Crowd of Shadows", and another Nebula Award in 1978 for his novella "A Glow of Candles, a Unicorn's Eye," the latter telling of an actor's dilemma in a post-literate future. Grant also edited the award winning Shadows anthology, running eleven volumes from 1978-1991. Contributors include Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell, R.A. Lafferty, Avram Davidson, and Steve Rasnic and Melanie Tem. Grant was a former Executive Secretary and Eastern Regional Director of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and president of the Horror Writers Association.

Reviews

[Char · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tea party on the lawn in the middle of summer? Sounds great to me! Even if the tea party does take place at the creepiest property in town: Winterrest.

THE TEA PARTY plays with one of my favorite horror tropes: evil in a small town. It does it with a haunting atmosphere, unusual weather and natural events, (like winds, and earthquakes), and it also features a large cast of characters. I like quiet horror and this certainly fits the bill.

I see a lot of reviews and ratings that aren't so great on this book and it makes me wonder why. The story takes its time, that's for sure, and there's also little blood and gore. But for me, these days, this horror tale fit the bill perfectly, though I do have to admit the denouement left me slightly stunned.

I listened to the audio version, narrated by Matt Godfrey, who was outstanding as usual. I found his laid back style to be a perfect match for this slow burning tale of a haunted mansion, an insane stonemason, and the entire town of Deerfield who could not avoid being affected by the recent events in their tightly-knit neighborhood.

If slow burning, small town evil stories aren't your thing, (think Harvest Home), you might want to give this one a pass. On the other hand, if this is the type of story you've loved since childhood, like I have, (and that love has only grown), then THE TEA PARTY is definitely one for your "To Read" list.

Recommended!

*I received this audio courtesy of the narrator with no strings attached. This review is my honest opinion. *

[Grady Hendrix · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't think a book about angry killer rocks who want to gravel people to death would wind up being so boring.

[mark monday · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story of the The Tea Party unfolds in sections cleverly titled "The Host" and "The Guests" and "The Invitations" etc. It is basically about a very bad tract of land with a very bad history - and that land is not only affecting the locals who surround it, it is herding them all together for an event that will take place at its heart, in the abandoned mansion Winterrest. The book takes place over the course of a few tense and intense days, as very weird things begin to happen in increasing numbers to an increasing number of the cast.

Grant is a masterful writer; he should be, he's written countless books. And so this novel is well-constructed, with interesting and well-developed characters, eerie scenes a'plenty that are often striking and rarely familiar, surprising turns of plot, and disturbing hints of what is going on laid carefully here and there. But despite the high number of novels that he churned out, clearly practice doesn't make perfect - or perhaps he was so close to his creation that he failed to notice that he was writing a book that was essentially about murderous, shapeshifting rocks.



The Tea Party also commits the cardinal sin of having a cast of people who continually engage in the most frustrating bouts of Surely There Must Be A Logical Explanation For It All. Ugh! If there is a sudden hurricane or earthquake that no one but you has noticed, if your stab wound suddenly heals itself, if for fuck's sake you suddenly become heavily pregnant overnight... maybe something not-so-logical is going on, okay? Still, not a 1 star read because it was pretty compelling - at least up until it became pretty stupid.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE TEA PARTY, by Charles L. Grant is a great example of small town evil, with a slow-burn horror style. The atmosphere was creepy from the very beginning, and questions were immediately raised that made me really think about the nature of what was going on.

The only thing I didn't care for (and this might just be a case of "too many kids home now to focus" -LOL!), was all the characters that were introduced. Despite the large amount, I found I only really connected to a couple of them, and mentally disregarded the rest. Again, this may just be due to the current "everyone is home" situation.

The menace was present throughout the entire novel, and never let up (the best part of a slow burn story, imho!). I have long been a fan of Charles L. Grant, and this novel is no exception. I found it to be original and genuinely creepy all throughout.

Recommended.

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A slow burn that picks up speed as you go along. Unpredictable in many ways and a kicker of a conclusion.

[Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Grant sure did love his seasons. I think every story of his that I've read thus far start out talking about what season it is. This is useful from a setting standpoint, but then he goes on and talks about how the season is ominous and portentous. Again, that's pretty useful for a horror story, but it's interesting to note that he does this in nearly every story he writes. If he doesn't start the story with a season, he uses a sudden change in seasons as a method of signalling a change in the tone of the story.

He also loved using wind as a threat in his stories. That was most apparent in The Bloodwind, but it's also true of Night Songs and now The Tea Party, as far as recent reads go. He might have used wind more often that that, but those are the ones I at least recall off the top of my head.

This isn't to say that framing his stories in a season doesn't work; it lends atmosphere to the stories, as anyone who's read The Halloween Tree or Something Wicked This Way Comes can tell you. Also, sudden, inexplicable changes in weather are a good way to indicate something's not right without having to show us ghosts, ghouls, and goblins to prove it to us. Since Grant's style is gentler and quieter than what most readers expect of horror fiction, these conventions work in his stories. One of the problems with this book is that the atmosphere is introduced at the beginning of the story, and then revisited too infrequently.

Overall, The Tea Party just isn't that great of a book. Part haunted house story, part Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the book has too many characters, too many subplots, and just isn't that engaging. The real threat of the story here is -- wait for it -- rocks. Boulders, stone buildings, and gravel all play a part in the threat, but the real antagonist here is a bunch of rocks. In a moment of clarity not often seen in Grant's works, he provides a background for the threat and why it is, of all things, rocks, but it's still hard to get past the fact that it's something mundane. Bentley Little might be able to get away with something like that, but here it's just laughable.

While the title of the book isn't inappropriate (a tea party does, in fact, feature past the halfway point of the novel), it is a little misleading. I kept expecting the tea party to be the source of the horror, and once it gets underway, it is a bit horrifying, but it wasn't like the tea was poisoned or anything like that. The book could have been called The Stone House and made more sense than The Tea Party and been a bit more relevant to what the story was actually about.

So far, what makes a Grant book a Grant book is his atmospheric style, and when it's absent from his books, they wind up feeling like just another horror novel. He did have some eerie, creepy moments, but where his previous novels were more about the feeling one got from the story, this was more about the events. It took a long time to get going, and then the conclusion happened quickly, too quickly to really feel anything for the characters who were affected by the tragedy.

[Kevin Lucia · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW. Cool concept, and Grant does this all the time...I think the book ends and everyone's safe, but they're really not....

[Matthew Catania · Rating 2 out of 5]

After picking this up based on the great cover, I found that this may be the only horror novel set in my county. My town is even namedropped twice. The title could even be a double entendre given local politics, had it not been written 30 years ago. Aside from the "antagonist" evoking Peter Cushing, the book isn't that engaging. It takes too long to get to the tea party & the supernatural logistics are murky. Why would magic stones be vulnerable to fire?
The book's least pardonable sin is its complete absence of tea. The townspeople are specifically invited to high tea ... where they drink punch. The cover's teacup & haunted tablecloth aren't present. YOU PROMISED ME A TEA PARTY!

[Ben Loory · Rating 1 out of 5]

inside the front cover, the previous owner has scrawled "good, but dumb ending," which i totally agree with, except the "good" part.

[Kevin Phyland · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the small New England village of Deerford the residents are suitably wary of the old stone building just outside of town called Winterrest. Abandoned mysteriously at the end of the 17th century it has gathered a reputation for being cursed and is avoided by the residents if they can help it. When the local realtor Parrish starts trying to buy up businesses in Deerford it culls out the people who refuse to sell, and it is these that get an invitation to a tea party at Winterrest to celebrate its sale. But strange things are happening in town - a pregnant dog disappears, a drunk thinks he has murdered a local lawyer and vanishes into the hills, but she is unharmed, and a young woman becomes five months pregnant in a week. Doug is vacillating between two female interests - bar owner Judy, and lawyer Liz whose two children have recently been visiting the forbidden Winterrest with scary results. What starts out as a King-esque small town horror from Charles L. Grant drifts rather oddly into a haunted house tale with a difference. While not a bad book I found the premise ultimately a bit…silly.

[Ken Saunders · Rating 3 out of 5]

  THE TEA PARTY was a "paperback original" released by Pocket Books in 1985. For some reason, some audio versions feature the cover art from T.M. Wright's superior CARLISLE STREET but it's difficult to guess why, because it was gifted at birth with its very own spectacular painting by Lisa Falkenstern. Anyway, the story features a sentient fog which feeds on human satisfaction (!), and has grown strong enough to manifest itself as a stone house in quaint rural Connecticut, surrounded by boulders and rock walls. It takes additional forms, as we learn when we meet our cast of characters. Architect Doug is riding his horse when a hurricane pelts him with debris. Antique dealers Bud and Ollie see their store go up in flames. Lawyer Liz is stabbed by a raving drunk AND is almost flattened during an earthquake in a memorable bit:
  " A large gnarled branch crashed onto the road, bounced, and shattered into splinters as if it were glass; an oak lifted groaning out of the ground, roots dripping black dirt and dark wriggling things, screaming as it fell against a smaller, younger tree that bent under the weight and snapped like a gunshot, the landing raising a cloud that spun away as though the quake had given birth to a wind."
  In each case, the effects mysteriously vanish as soon as the causes subside. The fire damage blows away with the smoke. The trees and torn earth roll away to reveal green grass under sunny skies.
  If rampant crime and chaotic disasters don't make you want to up and leave, how about announcements of new apartment complexes and cheap subdivisions?  In short order Doug, Liz, Bud and Ollie all receive staggering offers to sell their homes and abandon the community. Little do they know that at the Tea Party, those who decide to cash out and split for greener pastures will get a gory reprimand.
  It's an interesting take on America's relationship with its famous namesake "dream", which implies commitment to neighbors, but primarily results in concern with real estate market values, as families move "up the property ladder" within a town or across the country. The book suggests there is a price to pay for the way we have replaced community activity with a financial investment.
  This was my third read with Mr. (L.) Grant after HOUR OF THE OXRUN DEAD and BLOODWIND. Those books were interesting, but too devoted to the author's famously vague style. By contrast THE TEA PARTY seems designed for straightforward crowd-pleasing, in the recognizable pattern of you-know-who. (We even get a town psycho manipulated by dark forces.) At least it starts out that way. The book trucks along, brisk and exciting, for the first 2 of about 5 parts. Unfortunately after it establishes the setup, it has nowhere to go and the characters have nothing to do or think about. They just start shuffling from one house to another and doing the usual love triangle business that I could not care less about. It's about 50 pages too long and really becomes tiresome. The climax seemed dumb because I thought we were dealing with fog, but on the plus side it ended the book quickly. I most enjoyed the many inventive death scenes and the change of pace from this prolific author.

[Gilda Felt · Rating 3 out of 5]

You’re never sure what is causing the horrors around Deerfield, but you have a pretty good idea of who is. There’s a certain Mr. Parrish who seems to be interested in buying out all the landowners in and around Deerfield. And who has a deep connection to the creepy stone house, Winterrest.

There are a lot of characters, a few who really stand out. But too many of them spend too much time trying to explain the unexplainable. Earthquakes, killer winds, fires; the characters find the craziest reasons for pretending they didn’t happen. But I suppose if they had just left town it would have made too much sense.

Still, it kept my interest, and some pretty horrifying things took place. But my biggest gripe is that the ending isn’t the ending. I hate that in a book. I think it’s a cheat. It’s one thing if there’s a sequel, but that’s not the case here. Grant would have served the reader better if he had ended the story when he ended the book.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had been purposely avoiding writing a review of this book because it is no longer in my possession. When I was in high school I found it on the shelves of a coffee shop so was only borrowing it. I remember the abandoned mansion, the invitations, and a specific scene involving some absorbing stones and an unlucky child. I'd go through cycles of forgetting about this book, then the cool cover would resurface in my mind and I'd have to research to track it down- this time the title soon floated back to me. I remember that I liked the book well enough, and certainly regret it enough that I didn't try to buy the book from the coffee shop owner who was a friend and probably would have accepted. Maybe I'll reach out to him.... Anyway! I anticipate that someday I'll once again own this book and can revisit it so consider this review somewhat pending.

[Tattooed Horror Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting listen - the narrator was fantastic and the story was entertaining - though it seemed more dark fantasy than horror. The Raven still remains my favorite Charles L Grant, but I'm glad that I checked this one out.

[Robi Eagle Mex · Rating 4 out of 5]

if you like early Stephen King The Tea Party wont disappoint you.

[Michael Mallory · Rating 2 out of 5]

The late Charles L. Grant was a puzzling author. Many of the horror genre's leading lights praised him to the hilt, but I've never been able to justify that praise from reading his books. "The Tea Party" is essentially a haunted house story, but it is so diffuse and watery that I found it impossible to keep reading. Maybe Grant's antiquated writing style is supposed to be an homage to Lovecraft, but it simply doesn't engage. I've read a few of Grant's books, and always came away thinking that maybe I've stumbled on the one exception to the rule, given his reputation, but I have yet to stumble on the rule. Every now and then he writes an interesting line, but it's a consciously interesting line. I hate to say it, but I think Grant is destined for obscurity.

[Ashleigh · Rating 2 out of 5]

well, this book was shit. what more can i say? =]

- this book had so much potential, but it just ended up really crap.
- nothing overly exciting happened until the end.
- few unanswered questions
- too much sub stories so therefore hard to follow in places.
- i kept getting confused with the characters, so in place I didn't really know what was going on.
- this book much have been cheap to public, sooooo many spelling errors.

[Cheryl Leon Levy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was just reading an old diary. And one sentence in it is " by the way. The tea party which I'm reading is boring so far and stupid. " lol! this was from 1985 and I was 17. I do not remember this book at all. But I'm going to add it to my shelf, dammit! Hahaha