A Family Journey to Fight for What Matters Most
3.5
The Sweet Tea Odyssey Book Cover The Sweet Tea Odyssey
Catherine Mann
Disability Fiction, Southern Fiction, Women's Divorce Fiction
Lake Union Publishing
August 11, 2026
Ebook, Audiobook, Paperback
283

With her waterfront home on the market, marriage over, and teen daughter, Elsie, threatening emancipation, Rosalynn Yates finds her nerves well frayed, and that’s even before a Category Three hurricane approaches the Carolinas. Fortunately, Rosalynn’s mother, Lillian, arrives to help with the evacuation, going into full Mama Bear mode―whether Rosalynn likes it or not.

The three women load a few belongings and Rosalynn’s mobility service dog, Dusty, into her van and start the slow journey to Lillian’s home in Virginia, where further heartache awaits them. As they hash out old betrayals and new crises, Lillian recalls another important road trip, when decades earlier the family joined the historic Capitol Crawl to fight for the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

As secrets surface and accommodations become more difficult to find, the women are tested at every turn. But they know that finding hope and reconciliation takes care and patience―just like making the perfect pitcher of sweet tea.

A Southern odyssey of advocacy, honesty, and family

Photo courtesy of RDNE Stock Project on Pexels

Catherine Mann’s The Sweet Tea Odyssey is a novel that follows three generations of women—Lillian, Rosalynn, and Elsie—as they evacuate Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina, ahead of a hurricane. Their road trip to Washington, D.C., intertwines with Lillian’s memories of traveling there in 1990 to participate in the historic march advocating for the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). 

The novel unfolds in three perspectives, but Mann chooses to tell Lillian’s chapters in the first person, while Rosalynn’s and Elsie’s are in third person. A discussion question at the end of the book prompts the reader to consider why the author made that choice. I read Lillian’s character as a way to tether 1990 and the present day and still give the author opportunity for some plot twists at the end. However, Rosalynn opens the novel, and I wished her story had been told in first person instead. Her perspective drew me in immediately, and I wanted more of a connection to her journey.  

The dual timeline works well. The historical chapters, particularly the depiction of the Washington march and the iconic “Capitol Crawl,” moved me. When the disability rights activists leave behind their mobility aids to crawl up the steps of the U.S. Capitol, a few tears definitely fell. 

The rest of the story, unfortunately, was less than inspiring. The author tackles a lot in this story: disability rights, divorce, emancipation, addiction, trauma, parenting, end-of-life care, and online bullying. The themes seem to crowd one another for the spotlight.  

Elsie’s teen perspective was the most difficult for me to connect with. Her experiences with online bullying are undeniably serious, but surrounded by so many other significant issues, I found myself thinking about them as trivial rather important. I wished that Mann offered a narrower scope of topics so that I could empathize a bit more with all three characters.  

The Sweet Tea Odyssey is a work of fiction, based on true events in America’s history, that was thought-provoking but ultimately didn’t leave a lasting impression on me. 

This review is based on a personal advanced copy review from NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing in exchange for an honest review. The opinions presented are solely of the reviewer.