I’d only read one book by Lisa See before Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. I enjoyed it very much, so I was more than pleased to have the opportunity to read her latest - The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane!

Li-Yan and her family are Akha, an indigenous hill tribe who live in the higher elevations; they are classified by the Chinese government as part of the Hani. The Hani are “an official minority.” The Akha culture is one with much respect for those with age and experience. They have some fairly strict practices in some respects, and in others they are fairly lax. Li-Yan’s mother is a midwife, and it is expected for Li-Yan to learn under her tutelage.

Li-Yan is also one of the few members of her family and neighbors to finish school, to have dreams of more than a life of tolling in the fields, picking tea leaves. All the same, she recognizes the importance of their history, their rituals, and as the world is changing, they will also need her to advance in school, so they can represent themselves, their wishes to those outside the hills.

As in life, sometimes there are obstacles not easily overcome, and the Akha are a culture with harsh rules based on superstitions, traditions. Of course, there is also a great deal of beauty in these traditions, as well, and a strong sense of community.

Another piece of this story is told through adopted young teen girls, the feelings any adoptive child goes through, but there are unique aspects to a young Chinese child adopted by ethnically different parents, raised in America, another country. The struggle to have to determine exactly how and where her story begins, how she fits in, and will she ever know her real story, from the beginning.

There’s a segment of this story that is about tea, the growing of tea in the hills where Li-Yan lives, the traditions of serving tea, the different types of tea, the fluctuations of the value on tea, and how the economy of it affects all, but perhaps most importantly affects the Akha in this story. The pricing / selling / buying of it affected by unscrupulous business practices. It’s seamlessly woven into Li-Yan’s day-to-day life, and I enjoyed learning more about tea, Pu’er tea specifically – to a point – but I was glad when the story veered back and returned the focus to Li-Yan’s personal journey.

This is one of those books where I think you are better off not knowing too much, you should just experience it yourself. It’s a story of family, forgiveness, and finding your way through this crazy life.

Pub Date: 21 Mar 2017


Many thanks for the ARC provided by Scribner!

I have loved reading Lisa See’s books, particularly Shanghai Girls, Dragon Bones and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, so I was particularly pleased to have the opportunity to read an advance copy of her latest, The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, thanks to Scribner and NetGalley.

We meet Li-Yan when she is a girl living in a remote village in the mountains of Yunnan province. Life is hard for the families in the ethnic Akha minority as they harvest tea and follow routines and rituals that have been ingrained in their lives for generations. Li-Yan is the only daughter, living in a family compound with her parents and her three brothers and their wives, and she has an aptitude for learning that is fostered by her teacher.

Li-Yan falls in love with San-Pa, who leaves her to make a life for them outside the village. She learns she is pregnant while he is gone and gives birth to a baby girl (which tradition deems a “human reject”). Because she cannot bring herself to kill the baby, she wraps the baby in a blanket (tucking a tea cake alongside her) and walks for miles to a village where she abandons her beloved baby, hoping someone will care for her.

There is an incredible amount of history and detail as the story follows Li-yan’s effort as she grows up to enter the world beyond the gates of her village. It is an amazing journey with memorable characters and more than you will probably ever want to know about tea!
Meanwhile, her daughter is adopted by a loving family in the U.S. and is raised in a life that contrasts sharply with Li-Yan’s. An impressive amount of research was done by See, who grew up in a large Chinese-American family in Los Angeles. Themes of international adoptions, ethnic minorities in China (specifically the Akha people), and the history and cultural significance surrounding tea (farming, production and consumption) all contribute to the story.

As one might expect in a book by Lisa See, the main female characters are strong, clever women whose familial bonds overlay their experiences as individuals. It won’t be a surprise that Li-Yan’s desire to search for the daughter she gave up is recounted in chapters alternating with the story of Haley, the girl adopted by Americans who longs to learn about her roots and birth family.

As noted, there is more than I really wanted to know about tea, but it was an integral part of the story. I appreciate learning about Chinese history and culture in such an entertaining way, and my only critique is that the circumstances which make the resolution of the story feel so positive are (for me) bordering on “too good to be true,” as both Li-Yan and Haley are living ideal lives surrounded by perfect people and circumstances.

It’s a powerful story, well-researched and affecting on many levels. I loved the experience of reading it, but the ending reminded me that it was complete fiction – so four stars.

BTW, Lisa See will be at a Bookshop Santa Cruz event March 23, 2017.

Skimmed the last third of the book. Each of See's books since the wonderful Snowflower and the Secret Fan has been increasingly disappointing. Stop trying to impress with your historical research and just tell me a good story.

For those of you who were first entranced by Lisa See's debut back in 2006 (Snow Flower and the Secret Fan), you will be happy to know...she's back, and I mean really back. I loved her first book, 'meh' on her second book, liked her Shanghai Girls series, and heartily disliked her latest, China Dolls. However, in her latest book due out in March 2017, Lisa See has hit another home run. This time, she sets her story in the tea mountains of rural China in 1989 where we first meet Li-yan, a little girl part of an ethnic minority group called the Akha. This community has never been touched by the modern world, with no electricity, a spiritualism based on nature, and strict traditional rules that go back thousands of years. The tale moves back and forth between Li-yan's life, and that of her daughter, adopted into an American family after a tragic decision forced upon the young mother by her culture group. As the novel delves into the secret and hidden world of the tea trade, it exposes the corruption, the wealth, and the fascinating details of how tea is not only grown and then fermented, but marketed and sold to the greedy collectors. I read voraciously and ceaselessly, and finished with a satisfaction I had not felt for quite some time in See's novels. What a pleasure to not only be entertained, but to take a peek into another world and their ancient traditions.

The Tea Girl Of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See

This was a wonderful story, great vibrant characters and a fascinating story line. I loved learning about the Akha people of the Yunnan province in China, a not so known ethnic group. The author described their customs and beliefs so well and really drew me into the main characters and what they went through in this story, from learning how to move forward in areas where their beliefs might not be of importance, or believed, to at look at how the clan needed over time to conform to the outside world to survive, yet keeping what they could of their beliefs. This story is also about adoption, where the main character not seeing a way out of a situation and not wanting harm to come to her child, has to deal with the repercussions of her actions, and that of the life of the daughter she gave up learning to live with love but also with the feeling that in some ways she does not fit in, in her life in the United States. Each of these characters, wondering about and searching for the other.
The story revolves around the tea trade, Pu'er tea in particular, which is grown in the region, where the main character grew up.
I feel like I learned so much about tea, and about the Hill tribes of China. It makes me want to visit the area, and experience it for myself.
The book left me wanting more, yet also feeling maybe it was a good way of ending it.
Thank you NetGalley, for the opportunity of reading this in advance of its publication.

I love Lisa See's work and have read all her books. I couldn't wait to read The Tea Girl Of Hummingbird Lane! The story line was just ok and definitely not her best work.

I got this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I was so excited to get this novel, because I loved the other three books I have read by Lisa See. I wasn't disappointed , I loved this book of the tea trade and industry in China.
The novel covers the period from 1988 to 2016, a relatively short time period in terms of history, but the changes the country China is going through in those years are enormous. While the rituals and routines around the seasons of tea picking, family occasions, spirits and superstitions in the Yunnan village inhabited by a small Akha tribe remain very much the same, the tea industry changes tremendously and it benefits the community who produce the teas most desired, not only for drinking, but for it's medicinal properties.
I was awed by the research that went into writing this book and as usual I have learned a lot about a subject I didn't know anything about. In a country, where most of our tea comes from tea bags, I appreciated what goes into making good tea. I also enjoyed the transformation of the industry from the ancient Akha customs to the modern GPS led industry. This is a story of both Li-Yan and her daughter Haley, who she was forced to abandon shortly after her birth. It was fascinating to witness Li-Yan's changing into Tina, through education ( the only one from her area to have a secondary education), hard work and marriage. We also witness, her daughters' life in her adopted family and her struggle with her identity. Without giving away the end, I had to take one star off for some of the coincidences at the end of the book which I found way too far fetched.
Thanks NetGalley, the publisher and Lisa See for letting me preview this advanced copy.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review. In the first third of the very well written novel, there was a very personal trigger for me, and I was unable to continue reading. I think most, if not all, fans of Lisa See will be very happy with her latest offering.