A Tempest of Tea

Written by Hafsah Faizal, A Tempest of Tea (2024) is the first installment of the Blood and Tea duology. Faizal writes novels centered on characters of color, often with a focus on colonization and accurate representation of Middle Eastern and South Asian cultures, even in a fantasy setting. A Tempest of Tea follows this general pattern, combining themes of romance and colonization with vampire folklore and the heist genre.

The protagonist, Arthie Casimir, comes from the country of Ceylan, a Sri Lanka–inspired country colonized by Ettenia, a parallel to the United Kingdom. Arthie, a half-vampire, and Jin, her adopted brother, use their teahouse and secret bloodhouse Spindrift to protect themselves and those they care about from the ravages of a country hostile to minorities and vampires alike. When the government threatens Spindrift, they gather their allies and execute a daring heist to protect it, unraveling deeper secrets as they face the costs of secrets amidst a colonized world.

Faizal has written several best-selling YA novels, including the Sands of Arawiya duology, which includes We Hunt the Flame and We Free the Stars. The latter novels are set in the same world as A Tempest of Tea, although their plots are not connected as of this novel’s release. All of Faizal’s works have received favorable reviews and have been recognized as New York Times bestsellers.

This guide refers to the 2024 Farrar Straus Giroux hardback edition.

Content Warning: Both the source text and this guide contain descriptions of violence, including colonial and racist violence.

Plot Summary

The country of Ettenia is racked with unrest, colonialism, and intrigue. Twenty years ago, a half-vampire known only as the Wolf of White Roaring brutalized the streets, killing widely and violently. (Unlike full vampires, who are turned at the very moment of death, half-vampires are turned when they are still alive, and they therefore find it much more difficult to control their bloodlust.) After the Wolf’s rampage, the most recent ruler of Ettenia, the masked Ram, has taken an anti-vampire stance, and vampires have begun disappearing from the streets. In response to this, Arthie Casimir, an orphan from the colonized country of Ceylan, has founded a haven for vampires called Spindrift, which acts as a bloodhouse by night and a teahouse by day. Arthie has attracted negative attention in the city of White Roaring for managing to take a magical pistol named Calibore out of a stone; this act marks her as the future ruler and savior of Ettenia.

The story opens with Arthie and her adopted brother, Jin, as they go to confront Matteo, a painter who has been frequenting Spindrift without payment. During the confrontation, Arthie and Matteo extort each other—Matteo with evidence that Spindrift is illegally a bloodhouse, and Arthie with the revelation that Matteo is a vampire. That night, the Ram’s Horned Guard raid Spindrift, but Arthie’s shrewdness ensures that the guards find no evidence of the bloodhouse. Before the guards leave, however, they reveal that Spindrift is behind on the rent.

Arthie and Jin question the proprietor who owns the teahouse and learn that the Ram has extorted him into selling the building. They have two weeks before the government claims the teahouse. Arthie returns to her office to find a young man named Laith Sayaad waiting for her. He is a captain of the Horned Guard and proposes that they work together to steal a damning government ledger from the Athereum (the home of the upper-class vampires). The ledger could extort the Ram into cooperating with them. Wanting to save Spindrift and planning to betray Laith, Arthie agrees and begins to build a team for the heist.

Arthie and Jin recruit a young forger named Flick (the adopted daughter of the East Jeevant Company’s head, Lady Linden). They also enlist the help of Matteo, who can help them gain access to the Athereum. They plan to enter the Athereum during the annual auction, but in order to do so, they must forge identifying markers to gain access to the party, then manipulate an complex entry system into accepting those forged markers. Unbeknownst to the group, Matteo wants to break into the Athereum to see the leader, Penn Arundel, a vampire who raised both him and Arthie (many years apart). Meanwhile, Flick plans to betray the group and use the ledger to win back her mother’s favor.

Jin and Flick infiltrate the house of the Thorne sisters—the vampires who control the entry to the Athereum—in order to obtain handwriting samples. Meanwhile, Arthie and Laith extort a public works official to gain his expired identity marker so that Flick can create forgeries. When Arthie’s plan fails and the official’s assistant attacks them, Arthie wills Calibore to shapeshift into a club, revealing the secret of her magical weapon to Laith. Later, Laith admits to Arthie that he wants Calibore because the king of Arawiya sent his sister to fetch this weapon, but she died on the journey. Laith blames the king for his sister’s death and wants to use Calibore to kill the king.

After Flick forges fake identity markers, the group finalizes their plan to enter the Athereum. They successfully gain entry to the Athereum despite a few challenges, and Arthie and Laith enter Penn Arundel’s vaults to look for the ledger. Meanwhile, Jin and Flick join the auction that is taking place at the event, and Jin starts a fight with the entire group of vampires as a distraction. Back in the vault, Arthie tricks Laith with a faked ledger and hides, allowing him to be arrested by the Athereum guards.

When the rest of the group and Penn Arundel, Arthie’s foster father, join Arthie, Penn reveals that the ledger holds multiple secrets. He explains that the government and Lady Linden’s East Jeevant Company have been illegally trafficking starved vampires and using them as weapons on the battlefield. Penn needs the ledger to build a court case against the EJC. Penn also reveals that the Wolf of White Roaring was an arranged conspiracy to turn the public against vampires. Arthie insists that she needs the ledger to save Spindrift, but she agrees to cooperate with Penn to bring the EJC and the Ram down.

As Arthie returns home, the Ram approaches her and demands the ledger in exchange for Spindrift’s safety. Arthie refuses. Troubled by the revelation of the EJC’s trafficking activities, Flick confronts her mother, only to realize that Lady Linden never really loved her. The next day, a gang hired by the Ram attacks and burns down Spindrift. Laith, released from prison by Penn, finds Arthie. When he goads her into feeding on him, the narrative confirms Arthie’s status as a half-vampire. She regrets breaking her own oath that she would never feed on human blood.

(The narrative explains that in the past, a newly turned Arthie once massacred other survivors on a boat. Penn later took her in and mentored her, but she lost control and killed her own maids, then fled. Ever since, she has been living with Jin and subsisting on his coconut water instead of blood.) Now, as Arthie sensually feeds on Laith, he tries to steal Calibore, and she angrily rejects him and forces him to leave. Afterwards, Matteo confronts Arthie about breaking her oath.

During their conversation, she suddenly gets the idea to use the press to take down the Ram. The group arranges to look their best for the meeting with the press, which will be hosted at the Athereum. Arthie and Penn reconcile, and Penn promises to make a home for her again. Flick and Jin finally act on their feelings and kiss.

At the press release, Flick realizes that the Ram is her mother, and violence breaks out as the Ram’s guards attack the press and the vampires. Laith appears and steals Calibore. He also attempts to shoot Arthie, but Penn intercepts the bullet and dies. The Ram shoots Jin through the heart, but Matteo turns Jin into a vampire and saves his life. Arthie hunts Laith down, and they shoot and wound each other, seemingly fatally. However, the unnamed Wolf of White Roaring finds Arthie bleeding out and carries her away.