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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learned so much about tea.
One of her best stories.
I found the narrative of the culture described fascinating and highly educational.
Li-yan, our main character, is a member of the Akha, the indigenous people who live in the hills of the Yunnan Province of China. Li-yan’s life, like that of her tribe, centers around growing and picking tea. When a stranger visits from a very different part of the world, everything about their lives begin to change. Li-yan, the most highly-educated girl in her village, translates for him. She soon discovers that the stranger wants something that traditions have forced Li-yan and her mother to keep secret and hidden.
In spite of the fact that Li-yan was brought up among the isolated Akha people and has lived her entire life on the mountain among them, she still cannot understand the sense behind some of their superstitions and traditions. When these superstitions and traditions force her to make the ultimate sacrifice, she does what she has to do, which leaves behind an emptiness in her heart. When she leaves her family and the secluded mountain village, she finds that the traditions that she once resented have became precious to her.
I am always changed by an extraordinary book, and this is a truly extraordinary book. I am sure it is the best I have read in a long time. The characters are beautifully and realistically developed, and the plot is both exciting and endearing. This is a moving story of family and tradition and change. It is about over-coming problems and of striving for more. It is unforgettable and meaningful.
This wonderful story is educational as well. I loved learning about the customs and traditions of the Akha people, as well as about the growing, harvesting, value and healthfulness of tea. This book is one in a million!
A fascinating story of the forgotten tribes of vast China, and one lowly girl’s struggle from tea harvester through school. Of course, she falls in love with a star-crossed boy who her family disapproves of. This is a story so distant from our culture in America it bears reading just to experience how others live on the other side of the globe. I was lucky enough to take a boat through the Yangzee River and see some of these ancient tribes and how they live. Now you can too!
Very compelling book. A wonderful way to immerse yourself in another culture. Very believable and inspiring.
Ms. See takes the reader into a little known area of China and tea is one of the main characters. The protagonist’s journey is one of the most engaging stories you’ll ever read.
This story follows a girl named Li-yan as she grows up in the remote village of an Akha tribe in China. She grows with superstitions that she is told will change her fate in life, but to outsiders would seem beyond extreme. (killing a set of newborn twins because that is the highest form of evil). The women of this village are known for picking tea leaves and making tea cakes. This village has no running water, and no electricity. Li-yan has never even seen a car let alone modern conveniences that were available in the 1980s.
As Li-yan grows, a turn of fate sets her on a course she never expected to be on. She leaves her village and is introduced to the business of selling tea from her remote village. These teas are so valuable that they go for several 1000s of dollars when they sell. Li-yan starts to make money to send back to her village, and meets a man that will change everything for her.
The second narrator of this book is a child named Haley. Haley is a Chinese girl who was adopted as a baby from an orphange in China. She is growing up in America in a rich family and has everything she needs. She becomes interested in tea and its origins in China as she gets into high school and then on to college. Her path leads her back to the remote villages of China as a college student, and there she meets people that can help her reconnect with her unknown past.
I have mixed feelings about this book. While parts of it were very good, and I was very involved with the story (Especially Li-yan and her village and their ways), some parts fell flat. Haley’s parts were not that interesting, and then there were parts of the book that just were way too detailed about tea. IT read more like a text book in those sections, than a novel, and I found myself skimming quite a bit. I did not find that it helped the story along at all. I was invested in the novel for the story about the people – not the tea.
And the ending – for the love. I will tell you now that it was a lot of build up for a lot of let down. You hit a wall – the last sentence. Really? This is where you want to end this book? It was frustrating to say the least.
I am a mother of an adopted little boy from China. He came home to us at the age of 14 months. IT has been 11 years since that happened, and we don’t go a day where we aren’t grateful to his birth mother for her sacrifice. This book does talk a good bit from the point of view of a birth mother who always wonders about her child, and from the adopted child’s point of view. It did feel like, sometimes – not much – that the author felt that adoptive parents collect these children as something to show off and mold to be the “ultimate Asian child”. I can tell you from my point of view -that isn’t how it is. At least not for us. Could be because we have a boy, but our son asks only for legos and food. End of list. Typical boy.
I am mixed on whether to recommend this book. I would say yes overall – give it a try. But it could have been better.
Lisa See weaves a wonderful story of the lives of two strong female characters – one in China, one in America – a woman who had to give up her child because of cultural taboos and the daughter who was adopted by an American couple. Aside from the spectacular story-telling, See imparts intriguing knowledge of and insights into another culture and my favorite beverage, tea. I was delightfully surprised by the ending and connections I did not anticipate. SPOILER: although you root for and assume mother and daughter will meet again, See surprised me with the specifics.
I learned a lot about tea. I was sorry when it ended. Maybe a sequel is in order?
A fascinating look at tea growing in China spanning 30 years from Li-yan’s life growing up in the remote Akha tribe and her transformation when she enters the modern world. Author Lisa See is a good story teller who uses tea as a means to link the tragic loss of a child to a reconnection to that child 20 years later
Lisa See is becoming one of my favorite writers, bringing to life the unsung stories of women at the intersection of China and the U.S. This story of a woman from the hill tribes of Yunnan Province who is forced to give up her baby made me not want to put the book down. Highly recommended.
An epic tale. Tea lovers should read this book.
A treasure of a story! Rare, beautiful and touching, best enjoyed with a pot of steaming tea – Pu’er, anyone?
Is it possible to fall in love with a book? I believe I have. This is a treasure of a novel, rich in culture, history and character. It is one of those books that allowed me to really experience it as I read, and that is the sign of a knowledgeable, gifted and hypnotic storyteller! My desire to learn more about China tea was immediately activated and I alternated researching teas while reading the book. So allured, in fact, that my husband and I had lunch at a nearby Chinese restaurant, where the first thing we ordered was a steaming pot of oolong tea. Lovely! Thank you for this enchanting book!
The many characters were unpredictable. The story was compelling. There’s much information about tea that never would have crossed my mind.
I loved this book and if I could give it 5.5 stars I would
This book tells about the ancient tea trade in China. But its focus is the one-child policy that China held for some years and the effects on Chinese girls adopted by white Americans.
Lisa See is always good. She draws you in and makes the characters real and sympathetic. Always a great read and this one does not disappiont. Intriguing
I love this book and author because she writes fiction based on Chinese culture. Every page is full of cultural information made very real with the characters. Every chapter is full of interesting and realistic events. There is so much change and action.
Lisa See did an incredible amount of research to present a fascinating look into the lives of the people who live high in the isolated tea mountains of China. The story comes to California and ties into the world of international adoption when culture and custom force a village woman to give up her daughter in hopes of a better life. Lisa See manages to weave coincidence into a realistic yet amazing story.