From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa See, “one of those special writers capable of delivering both poetry and plot” (The New York Times Book Review), a moving novel about tradition, tea farming, and the bonds between mothers and daughters.In their remote mountain village, Li-yan and her family align their lives around the seasons and the farming of tea. For the Akha people, ensconced in … For the Akha people, ensconced in ritual and routine, life goes on as it has for generations—until a stranger appears at the village gate in a jeep, the first automobile any of the villagers has ever seen.
The stranger’s arrival marks the first entrance of the modern world in the lives of the Akha people. Slowly, Li-yan, one of the few educated girls on her mountain, begins to reject the customs that shaped her early life. When she has a baby out of wedlock—conceived with a man her parents consider a poor choice—she rejects the tradition that would compel her to give the child over to be killed, and instead leaves her, wrapped in a blanket with a tea cake tucked in its folds, near an orphanage in a nearby city.
As Li-yan comes into herself, leaving her insular village for an education, a business, and city life, her daughter, Haley, is raised in California by loving adoptive parents. Despite her privileged childhood, Haley wonders about her origins. Across the ocean Li-yan longs for her lost daughter. Over the course of years, each searches for meaning in the study of Pu’er, the tea that has shaped their family’s destiny for centuries.
A powerful story about circumstances, culture, and distance, The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane paints an unforgettable portrait of a little known region and its people and celebrates the bond of family.
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The background of fermented tea was something about which I knew nothing.Also the ethnic minorities in China (55+). I found it interesting that there were so many languages spoken and the differences in the way of life made me aware of how little I knew about China. The author kept my interest and I didn’t want to put it down. A good book club suggestion
Love it! Read it!
It’s well worth your time.
I loved this book! It was filled with emotion both good & bad. Characters and plot were well developed . It was very informative regarding different cultures and I learned a lot about tea harvesting. This author always writes a winner.
Enjoyed learning more about tea industry in China.
One of See’s best.
A real page turner. I couldn’t put it down.
Yet another excellent Lisa See book…..a great read!
It was a great story. I loved how she fit all of the characters together.
I love reading anything she writes . Like this type of reading.
This was very accurate for a fiction book. Very interesting characters and story
I love all of her books.
One of the best books I have read in a long time. Couldn’t wait to keep reading. At the beginning it was hard to believe this story was around 1990. This was so far from the way we were living it was unbelievable. But it was about an ethnic minority Akha family and their lives forward. Lisa See brought the family to life as well as the mountaintop surroundings. It is a love story but much more.
One of the best books ever. Not only did I learn an awful lot about the origin of Puer tea but the characters are beautifully depicted. Since reading this book I only order tea from China and it is by far the best tea I’ve ever had. This is a do not miss.
Interesting historical novel with great characters
Brew a cup…
She’s introduced as an ordinary daughter of poor tea farmers and a member of a Chinese ethnic minority. We soon discover both Li-yan and her mother are extraordinary.
Ms. See takes us on a journey with Li-yan which blends the taboos and traditions of her small village with the bustle of modern China’s cities and a retreat for the wealthy in California. I found this an excellent story of mothers and daughters and will not hesitate to read other novels by Ms. See.
Beautiful and informative. Will definitely read again.
I am reading now
Beautifully written. Engaging. Often heartbreaking. A treasury of culture and traditions.
We first meet our main character Li-Yan in 1988 when she is six years old and follow her story until 2016. Li-Yan’s people are Akha, one of the fifty-five ethnic minorities of China, where the Han are in the majority. Li-Yan lives in Yunnan, the remote mountain village in southwest China, where snow-capped mountains, rice terraces, lakes and deep gorges surround one of the most perfect tea-growing regions of the world. As the tea industry suddenly booms, this most coveted tea category and prized product called Pu’er, impacts Li-Yan and the lives of her family, friends, and neighbors in ways never imagined.
Although set in modern day China, the characters we meet live without electricity, running water, modern bathrooms or kitchens, cars, TV, radio, computers. People are poor. Life is harsh. And harsher if you’re a female. Superstitions and strict cultural norms dictate actions and influence thinking. In such a world, if people fall on hard times, they stay there. People concentrate on their own empty stomachs and those of their hapless children. Behind the scenes, there are people who are slightly better off and who might create opportunities for the most hard- working, intelligent, and receptive. And in time, interrupted by bumps and bruises, detours and brick walls, unimaginable heartache and disappointment, the life of Li-Yan moves from abject poverty to education and experience to happiness and accomplishment as Li-Yan, now Tina of Los Angeles, California, takes her place in the modern world.
Competition for wealth from the tea industry brings treachery, betrayal, and mistrust to the once simple lives of the tea growers of Yunnan.
The ending of the book is way too abrupt, especially when almost every waking hour is filled with longing for this event for the two tea girls of this story.
This is no fairy tale. The government ruled the number of children a couple could raise. Educated people were forced into demeaning jobs. Men could be kidnapped off the street to serve as sailors or in the army at the government’s whim. Rights were trampled as the Chinese government evolved into today’s militaristic society.
Lisa See writes primarily about the Chinese culture. Although an American, the author has a Chinese ancestor and spends many hours in California’s Chinatown, absorbing culture, customs, traditions, mannerisms, and beliefs. A great amount of research has gone into this book, making this fictitious story read like a biography.
I admire the many immigrants who are able to assimilate into different culture, learn new ways, speak a new language, educate themselves and their children, and strive to improve their lives, especially when they often come from places so different from the land they now call home.
Loved this book. Well researched and great characters.