Thank you to NetGalley and to Scribner for a preview copy of this book.

Having read 3 of the author's previous novels, I came into this one with high expectations- and they were met. The setting in the small village, high in the mountains is so well described, that one can almost taste the tea in the air. I appreciated the history lessons spread throughout, documenting what the cultural revolution and the subsequent changes in leadership meant to the average Chinese villager. Although as I write these words, I realize that one thing that this novel really drove home was that there is no "average" villager, however connected by history and shared experience they may be.

The story of the women in the story, the connections across continents and generations is one of the best See has written. Although I have to say that I loved the way the book ended, it honestly felt like a stretch. The connections made through tea, through the ages are amazing.

If you have never read Lisa See's novels- this is a wonderful example to begin with. If you have read her previous work, I am sure that you will thoroughly enjoy this one.

I love this book!! I'm a longtime fan of Lisa See's writing, and I think this is probably her best.

I never knew there was so much to know about tea!! I admit the extent of my knowledge of tea stopped at Lipton, Tazo, and Celestial Seasonings before reading this book.

Most of the book is the story of Li-yan and a very well-told story it is! Interspersed in the second half of the book is the story of Haley, told mostly through reports, conversations and e-mails.

It's obvious See did meticulous research to be able to impart such technical knowledge of tea. The descriptions were detailed, but never boring.

I don't want to spoil it for future readers by telling too many details - - like the tea in the book, this story deserves to be savored and enjoyed. Right to the wonderful conclusion.

A wonderful new story of China from Lisa See! Everything about this book is sure to resonate with readers, from the unique cultural experiences of the isolated Hill Tribes of the Yunnan area of China, to the experiences and identity discoveries of Chinese American adoptees. Interlaced with the compelling story of a young Chinese girl's coming of age and her exposure to a more global awareness, is the story of Yunnan tea, especially the rare and beneficial Pu-erh tea that is native to the region. A good choice for book clubs and anyone who wants a well written and engaging read. Highly recommended!

Thanks Netgalley for this ARC.

Lisa See did it again! "The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane" definitely has the Lisa See winning formula. The book explores the Ahka, an ethnic minority group living in a mountainous region of China famous for its ancient tea trees. We meet the main character at a young age and over twenty years we share some of her most intimate experience.

Once again Lisa See introduces us to the culture of a group of people we have never known about. We learn about their history, customs, food and way of life throughout the course of this book. What a great cultural experience- and I didn't even have to take a plane!

That is the one thing I love about Lisa See's book- the way she is able to take her readers on a cultural journey, where they not only entertained, but where they learn so much.

Another great novel by Lisa See!

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane is a well-written story about a part of the world that I admittedly knew little about. I couldn't definitely see why people would give this four or five stars, but this type of book just isn't my cup of tea (sorry, not sorry for the pun).

Lisa See will be at The Bookstall on Monday, April 3rd at 2:00pm in a program co-sponsored by the Women's Exchange which is such a great local organization. See, of course, is the best-selling author of titles like Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and Dreams of Joy. Her latest, THE TEA GIRL OF HUMMINGBIRD LANE, is about Li-yan, a member of the Akha minority from Yunnan province, in China's Southwest. Fate, spirits, and omens are all important in her culture, as is the local tea trade. Eventually, Li-yan has a daughter out of wedlock who is given up for adoption, named Haley, and raised in California by Caucasian parents. Yet, mother and daughter seek to find each other in this emotional story which Library Journal says, "deftly confronts the changing role of minority women, majority-minority relations, East-West adoption, and the economy of tea in modern China." Like See's previous works, there is clearly much to explore and the publisher provides a book club reading guide for THE TEA GIRL OF HUMMINGBIRD LANE. I will definitely be recommending this new book and it will certainly appear on next year's Junior Theme list. In addition to meeting Lisa See, you can read an excerpt on the author's website.

LINKS in the live post:
http://www.thebookstall.com/ AND
http://www.womens-exchange.org/ AND
http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Tea-Girl-of-Hummingbird-Lane/Lisa-See/9781501154829/reading_group_guide#rgg AND
http://www.lisasee.com/books-new/the-tea-girl-of-hummingbird-lane/tea-girl-of-hummingbird-lane-sample-chapter/

Historically accurate and compelling, Ms. See has written another well-researched novel. The Akha people of China are fully immersed in the growing of tea, all family members involved. Family secrets, aspirations, tragedy...it is all here and written in beautiful flowing language. Recommended.

I am addicted to Lisa See's books -- I pick up pretty much each new one that comes out. I love the way she focuses in on time periods and cultures I know little or nothing about and brings them to life through memorable characters.

In this book, she takes on the Akha people, an indigenous tribe of China, who are also found throughout Southeast Asia. In China, they live in the mountainous tea-growing region of Yunnan province.

This story takes place in the present day, beginning in the 1990s, but in the beginning it's hard to remember that. Because of Communist policies of cultural preservation, the Akha people live fairly isolated lives, and continue the cultural traditions spanning back years. There is a superstition and a ritual for almost everything, and the slightest deviation from the norm is considered dangerous and some sins (like giving birth to twins) can result in outright exile from the tribe.

Our main character, Li-Yan, is born into one of these tribes and grows up steeped in tea culture and traditional ways until she finds herself in a bind - she becomes pregnant and her would-be husband has gone to Thailand to seek his fortune and never came back. In order to save herself from exile, she has her daughter in secret and gives her up for adoption.

From there we follow Li-Yan's journey from a simple tribal woman who endures many hardships to become a wealthy tea entrepreneur with an international lifestyle, and a fancy house in Pasadena. We also follow her daughter Haley as she grows up with a middle class white family in Southern California, grateful for her privileged life but unable to repress the urge to know where she comes from. The only clue to her origins is a tea cake that was left with her from adoption.

It's a fascinating read that touches on not just the life and circumstances of the Akha people in China, but also goes in depth on the origins, process and economy of pu-erh tea - the fermented tea cakes that are highly prized by tea enthusiasts. If there is a con, it's that the book is so highly researched and at times it feels that See wanted to include everything she learned and wasn't able to edit herself. This results in several "info dumps" that interrupt the story, rather than appear naturally within it and these can grow a bit tedious. I think I personally would have jettisoned these sections in favor of more character development for Haley. By the time we enter her point of view as a young adult, it's hard to feel as if we know her, since her story has been told entirely through third party sources - doctor's reports, group therapy transcripts, etc -- many of which focus more on the general experience of an international adoptee than on Haley as a character in her own right.

But if you have any interest in the subject matter, it's well worth the read, and the character of Li-Yan (and her mother) will stick with you for a while.

Just finished reading yesterday! Loved it. Will be back with my full review soon. Hopefully today or tomorrow!

This is my most highly anticipated book of 2017. In fact, I've been anticipating this book since shortly after Lisa See's last book, China Girls came out in 2014. To say , it was a disappointment is kind of an understatement. I have 3 of the 4 Lisa See books that I read and the adoption angle in this book really had me intrigued, but unfortunately even the adoption story was not enough to win me over on this one. This story went too into the technical aspects of tea production and just did not hold my interest in that regard. Whenever the story seemed to start getting good, Ms. See started back on the technical and historical aspects of tea. The historical aspects of tea in China and among the minority group, the Akhas, would have been fine and it is evident that much research was done, but every aspect of tea making that was learned did not have to be explained to us. Ms. See's stories are well loved for their historical storytelling and character development. I felt the although the characters were pretty well-developed and most of the storytelling was well done, it could have been so much better. The ending seemed rushed, like the length of the story was realized and an ending was quickly written. I don't want to get into the ending anymore, because I don't want to spoil the story. Although, I am glad to have read the story, I just find there to be something lacking from this story, but I do look forward to Lisa See's next book.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me a ARC.

Book review: Sip tea while you savor Lisa See's latest novel
By SANDY MAHAFFEY THE FREE LANCE–STAR

Traditions, heritage, superstitions, sacrifices and rituals all play important roles in Lisa See’s “The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane,” but tea is at its heart. It takes place in a more modern time than most of her other books, but still delivers wonderful insight into the old traditions.

Li-Yan and her family, members of the Akha hill tribe, live in a remote village of the Hunnan region of China. Their lives revolve around the seasons, as they are tea farmers.

Although the story begins in 1988, their village is so far from modern civilization that they are still ruled by superstitions and archaic millennium traditions such as only one child per family and twins viewed as human rejects who must be killed. Li-Yan’s story is one of a girl breeching the divide between the old traditions and the modern world. There are moments of heartbreak and pure joy.

She will inherit a very special grove of tea trees passed down the women in her family. One tree in the well-hidden grove is a source of the rare Pu’er’ tea, but things become more complicated when she has a child out of wedlock. Her mother assists her in getting the baby girl safely to an orphanage, but Li-Yan is banned from the village.

See masterfully guides the reader through Li-Yan’s journey from the old traditions to the modern world of tea. (Her research into tea is amazing.) But at the same time, she follows her daughter Haley, who was adopted by an American family, and is struggling to find her identity. The passage of time reveals parallels and coincidences which are not only fascinating but very satisfying as well. Her characters really do come alive on the pages.

This is a beautifully written, compelling novel, which takes one deep into the complicated world of tea growing and brewing. It’s the perfect companion to sipping a cup of your favorite brew.

Sandy Mahaffey
is former Books editor at The Free Lance–Star.
More Information

THE TEA GIRL OF HUMMINGBIRD LANE

By Lisa See

(Scribner, $27, 384 pp.)

Publication: March 21

Tags
Lisa Ethnology Literature Folklore Tradition Tea Food Trees Li-yan Superstition Grove

In this novel Lisa See introduces us to the life of Li-yan, born in the remote tea growing mountains of Yunnan province in southern China. Her people, the Akha are a minority race living a marginal hand to mouth existence growing and picking tea to sell their local tea centre. Although the story starts in the 1980s, the Akha are still living a very basic village life without running water and electricity. The tribe have many traditions and beliefs about spirits and life and death. Li-yan’s mother is the village midwife and herbalist and hopes that Li-yan will follow in her footsteps. However, Li-yan is one of the first of her tribe to stay on at school and has hopes of attending University or college. But all her plans are disrupted when a wealthy stranger comes to her village looking for a very special fermented tea called Pu’er. She also falls in love with a boy from a nearby village and when she becomes pregnant, must have the baby in secret and abandon her in the nearest town in the hope an orphanage will take her in.

As with Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Lisa See excels at immersing us Li-yan’s world. Her research into the way of life of the Akha and their beliefs and rituals is extensive as is her knowledge of the world of tea and Pu’er. As Li-yan herself pulls herself out of despair to learn about tea, she still longs for her baby now growing up on the other side of the world. As well as being a tale of the struggle of a primitive tribe to enter the modern world, with all the good and bad that that entails, it is also a story of friendship and betrayal, greed and generosity and the eternal bonds between mothers and daughters. With beautiful prose and great characters there is a lot more to this novel than the tale of a tea girl.

I wish I could give this book more than 5 stars. I am fascinated by historical fiction and love when books like this have so many actual facts. Written by a Chinese American woman,The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane. Is absolutely amazing and sure to blow you away. I love reading all about the Chinese culture and beliefs including following what they believe their dreams tell them to do. Full of superstitions and what they must do to not have the spirits harm them. Fascinating reading about the growing and harvesting and different grades of teas in China. Two parallel stories about a young Chinese woman who has a daughter when she is unmarried. She must give the baby to an orphanage and (leaves something with her baby that affects her whole life as she grows and matures )then she marries the baby's father. Her and her husband return to the orphanage to claim the baby and find the baby has been adopted by an American couple. At the same time it tells of the baby's life as she grows and matures in America and the struggles she goes through not looking like her adoptive parents and feeling different than the other Chinese children in her school and neighborhood. When the girl matures she thinks about her birth mother all the time and tries desperately to find her. Meanwhile the birth mother regrets giving up her baby and spends much time trying to find her as well. I suggest you read this book, I believe you'll be as fascinated as I was! Pub Date 21 Mar 2017
Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for a review copy of this book for my honest opinion.

Absorbed from go to whoa!

A powerful story woven around the Akha people, a Chinese ethnic minority, their culture and customs, the developing market of rare teas, and the adoption of children from China by Americans.
The story of Li-yan's life as a girl, her ambitions always surrounded by the religious and cultural mores of her Yunnan village is amazing. When she falls pregnant she gives birth in secret and leaves her child at an orphanage, wrapped in a blanket with only a tea cake from the secret female family tea grove. From there the story of her daughter Haley continues. However we constantly come back to Li-Yan's journey...and tea.
Haley is adopted by a Californian couple and her story here is filled with coincidences that verge on the mystical, especially as she pursues her chosen career.
I was engrossed in all that happened to Li-Yan and those of her village. Tea is a central motif, the cross roads that brings things to a head, opens up new challenges, endangers family secrets, and brings birth mother and daughter together.
An amazing and engrossing story that gives light to a little known people, and life to a story that will endure.
One of my best reads for 2017 thus far.

A NetGalley ARC
(March 2017)

3.5 stars (although I was willing to give it a solid 4 up until the end)
I should have gone to bed hours ago, but I couldn't put this down...which made the unsatisfying ending all the more disappointing. True, the Thing that I desperately wanted to happen <i>did</i> happen, but it happened in such rushed manner that I felt cheated. And that's how it ends! No exploration of how the Thing affects the characters, or anything that happens after. It happens and...that's it. Nothing more.
Not cool.
I'm working with an egalley, mind you, but a very polished one that looks ready for publication, and I highly doubt that another chapter or an epilogue were added before it was published. I need closure, and if this is an attempt to create a sequel hook, it was done poorly.
There are a few other things you might want to know going in:
1. <i>This is not a happy book</i>. It is probably the most depressing thing I have read for some time. Here's a list of some of the tragedies you have to look forward to if you decide to pick this up: SPOILER/TW babies dying in horrible ways (this happens very early on, and I almost abandoned the book at this point); drug addiction; people getting disemboweled by tigers (no, really); lots of animal death; orphanages full of neglected children; and intense feelings of loneliness, isolation, and abandonment.END SPOILER There's probably more, but you get the idea. It's good, but damn, it's a bummer. If you're not in a good place mentally, or are triggered by death, abuse, or substance abuse, stay far away from this one.
2. There will be some science infodumps towards the end. You'll know them when you get to them, and you can skim them. They're interesting, but largely unnecessary, and are given far too much space. Maybe a section full of facts AFTER the story would have been better? They bogged it down a bit, to be honest.
3. I was glad to have some Pu'er/Pu'erh (Numi's Chocolate Pu'erh, which I definitely recommend) on hand, as this book made me crave it like nobody's business. You might want to have some handy too.
4. I'd thought this story would give Li-yan and Haley equal attention, but most of the story was devoted to Li-yan. This is not a good thing or a bad thing, but it's something you should probably be aware of all the same.

Also, this isn't really something you need to know, but I'm going to complain about it anyway: I was not wild about the way "young people" were written. Li-yan felt very real to me, but Haley...not so much. Something about her narration didn't ring true, possibly the fact that the final chapter from her pov made her sound more like a spoiled teenager than a hardcore science major in her twenties researching her thesis. (She just would not calm down about the small furniture. It's small. And plastic. We get it. Hush.)

All in all, I enjoyed this one, but I don't think I would have picked it up had I been able to check out other readers' reviews first; it's largely a sad book, with a bit too much infodumping, and an abrupt, disappointing ending. It also managed to feel both too long and too short at the same time somehow? There's a good story in there, though, if you're willing to overlook its flaws, as well as interesting lessons about tea and the Akha people. This was my first See book, and is unlikely to be my last, despite my complaints.

A big "thank you" to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read this in exchange for an honest review!

Lisa See is one of my favorite all-time authors. I read Snow Flower and the Secret Fan several years ago and was instantly hooked on See's exquisite storytelling. Since then, I have read Peony in Love, Shanghai Girls, Dreams of Joy, and China Dolls. I always eagerly await See's next new tale about China and the everyday people that inhabit the country and read the book as soon as it is released.

See's most recent novel, The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, follows Li-Yan, a young girl growing up among the Akha people, one of the minority groups that live in the Yunnan province of China. Li-Yan and her family harvest tea and are one day visited by a businessman from Hong Kong, Mr. Huang, who wants to purchase tea for Pu'er, a fermented tea cake the is likely to contain a multitude of health benefits. Thanks to her teacher's tutoring, Li-Yan is the most educated member of her community and the only one who can be counted on to negotiate with Mr. Huang. Li-Yan is the heiress to a plot of tea trees that are very old and are used by her mother, who acts as the community's healer, as medicine. Though her mother warns her never to bring a man to the plot, Li-Yan finds that selling a couple of the tea cakes to Mr. Huang will solve her problem of falling in love with a boy that her parents don't wish for her to marry. Li-Yan believes that her and the boy will be able to run away together and could use the money on their journey. Instead, selling the tea cakes brings misfortune for the couple in the form of an unwanted pregnancy. Due to Akha custom, Li-Yan can't keep the baby and abandons the baby at an orphanage. Soon after, the baby is adopted by an American couple who names her Haley. Not a day goes by when Li-Yan or Haley do not think about reuniting.

There is so much to love about this book. Through the story, we learn about a minority tribe that is rarely discussed and how they have influenced tea drinking around the world. Prior to reading this book, I knew nothing about the Akha people, who have very different customs from the Han people, which are the majority ethnicity in China. I loved the details about the tea and how it was woven into the story (but that may be because I love tea). We also learn about adoption and how that can make children feel both grateful, but also angry. The child may feel loved and wanted by their adoptive parents but can't understand why they were not loved and wanted enough by their birth parents to be kept. Finally, the bond that Li-Yan and Haley have, despite not knowing anything about one another, is heartbreaking, in some moments, and amazingly touching, in others. Just like See's previous novels, the story in The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane will not disappoint.

See also has a special gift in crafting characters that are very unique. Each character has his or her own voice and is complex. Li-Yan's husband may drown his sorrows over his lost daughter by using opium but he makes sure that his last breath is one of kindness and sacrifice. The complicated feelings that the adoptees have towards their adoptive and biological parents, and the effect that has on their lives and the lives of those around them, is interesting and a topic that is not often featured in literature. The characters in this book are unique but also traditional enough to introduce readers to the culture of the characters. There is a certain authenticity one can feel in the characters of this novel.

My only complaint about this book, and any books that I have read by See, is that they can sometimes be a bit slow in some parts and then rushed in others. I don't think this takes away from the story but it is one issue that I found myself struggling with while reading. I still think this was a wonderful story and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading books featuring characters from different cultures. This would also be a great book for readers of historical fiction or for anyone who enjoys a wonderfully woven story that spans many years.

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane sounds like just another pretty name, when you first spot it. It brings promise, as does the author's well-known name, Lisa See. A promise of secrets, twilight and fantastic cultures it might take you too.

I'm going to tell you that it delivers. Brace yourselves for this book.

First of all, this is probably the first book about China that has not given me nightmares or made me feel like I don't ever want to go there. Perhaps that's because it was written by a Western author? Second, I am prone to reading books about China or Chinese culture, as a vacation of sorts - but due to the said reason, it's mostly fantasy (fantasy books don't tend to shock and terrorize you with their harsh realities, and harsh realities about China seem to be often harsher than realities about the nazis. Honestly.) But this book wasn't like that, and although there was some shock involved, there was also redemption, joy, happiness and a very meaningful ending.

The story is mostly made up of two parts: the tragic hardship and the glowing growth and redemption, from which the characters look back on the past. The story is arranged simply and linearly, but there are these distinct two parts which were both charming in their own way.

First the hardship part shocks you, and it shocks you hard. From the rough and sometimes very cruel traditions of the Akha to the understanding that in the years you were already born people still lived like this, and perhaps they still do somewhere in the world now. The way most of these ideas will be so alien, so baffling to you in their cruelty and lack of any common sense, so to say, will shock you beyond expectation. And yet, you will have to admit that some of them make sense. As hard as it will be to see through it, you'll have to try to accept the way these people live.

The story centers around losing your child, losing your mother, but it's also deep on not belonging - be it because you're far away from your home, physically different, culturally different, a minority or just outcrowded by race. This is a tale about a mother who had to relinquish her child because her situation and the tradition would have guaranteed her baby's death if she hadn't abandoned her. So we follow through with the story, seeing how it leaves a mark on everyone, how things like that leave a hole in a person's heart, never to fully heal. Despite where our lives lead us, the threads of fate always bring us back to our roots, and this is done so meaningfully in this story I am simply in awe at the ending.

Aside from the story itself, this is a manifest to tea. That part I also loved. In the end, I even contacted my tea master from ten years ago, because it brought back so many strong, deep memories.

Thank you to Lisa See and Scribner for letting me read this gem before most readers had access to it. Truly a wonderful gift! (Needless to say that receiving a review copy does not influence my opinion of the book at all.) I enjoyed this book a lot, and as this was my first one of Lisa's, I will be looking forward to checking my library and bookstores for more of her wonderful stories.

This is the first book I have read by Lisa See, and it wont be the last. The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane goes right to the heart of what it would have been like to live in a rural village in China where growing and picking tea is the primary way to make money. The main character, Li-Yan, known as girl to her family, is brought up to follow the many rules and superstitions of the Akha, the ethnic minority she was born into. This is at a time when females are not considered to be as important. Although, because they are a minority, the Akha are not limited to having one child like other parts of China. Li-Yan has three brothers.

The descriptions of people and places are so vivid that I can picture them in mind. Lisa See describes circumstances in such a way, that I became totally caught in the story and did not want to put the book down. The book follows Li-Yan through the choices she makes in her life. Those choices, at times have very difficult outcomes. However, she does have a big supporter in her mother as her love always shines through, and she helps her daughter in ways that go completely against the superstitions they hold. The mother-daughter connections continue when Li-Yan, who was forced to abandon the baby born out of wedlock, yearns and searches for her daughter.

One of the traditions is that young people are expected to go into the forest, and “do the intercourse” before marriage to try each other out and make sure they are happy with that aspect of a relationship with a future spouse. This is mentioned quite often—not in a graphic way. It’s just a part of their culture.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and highly recommend it. While a lot of books have a period where things slow down, and I really hope the story gets moving again, this book kept my interest from beginning to end.

A delightful story that follows Liyan, an Indigenous Akha young woman who lives in the remote tea planting mountains of Yunnan, China, as she matures and follows her destiny. She is forced to abandon her newborn daughter to an orphanage. She divorces her worthless husband, goes to tea-master school and plies her skill in the Puerh tea trade. She remarries successfully. In the meantime an American couple adopts her abandoned daughter Haley. Haley’s adjustment to American life is complicated. The one remnant of her Chinese heritage is a carefully wrapped cake of tea with mysterious writing left by her birth mother. The teacake is the link to her birthplace and birthmother. Haley, as a study project, goes to China and serendipitously discovers her origins and birth mother in a very touching scene at the end. Lisa See has a wonderful way of enveloping you in her characters and their drama. In the end you might even shed a tear (I did).

I received an electronic copy in return for an honest review.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25150798-the-tea-girl-of-hummingbird-lane" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1472151037m/25150798.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25150798-the-tea-girl-of-hummingbird-lane">The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/713.Lisa_See">Lisa See</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1845062287">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
This book is available today!<br /><br />I really enjoyed this story of Li-yan, born in a remote Yunnan village in China, of the minority Akha people.<br />Rare tea is made from the trees here, and we learn so much about tea making, Chinese customs and beliefs, and life in a small village. <br />Li-yan has a child very young, and she has a tough journey, but this shows the resilience of her people in this is a heartfelt story.<br />This is my first novel by Lisa See and I really enjoyed it!<br /><br />Thank you to NetGalley, Simon and Schuster, and the author Lisa See, for the opportunity to read this book!
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/12851291-karen">View all my reviews</a>