4.5 stars

This story gives us a fascinating look at this ethnic minority known as the Akha in a rural village in a tea growing region in China. It also provides fairly in depth information on the tea industry. But this is Lisa See and so it is of course so much more. It has language that flows and characters that you grow attached to even though you might not understand their culture and a captivating story of mothers and daughters, families, fate and love. There are multiple layers here. Li-yan's life and journey not only reflects the Akha culture but then how the country changes in the years after The Cultural Revolution and in places outside of the village. A secondary narrative depicts what it might be like as an adopted Chinese child, living in America but yet wondering about her roots and feeling connected to where she was born.

It's about even more than these characters and this people that I knew nothing about until this reading this book . It's about the things shared by all people - love , coming of age, mistakes and redemption, about the strength of two women. Li-yan's desire to be more than what her culture required of women, and her desire to do what she has to do to find what she has lost is at the center of the story . Her mother whose love for her daughter gives her the strength to break with the traditions and beliefs out of love is one of my favorite characters.

In the isolated place called Spring Village, the Akha people believe in the meaning of dreams, the hierarchy of "power and importance, the spirits, many superstitions and strict rules . Rules that would require a father to kill his babies if they were born twins then banishing the parents, rules that require the same from an unwed mother. With these odds against her and given the lowly position of women in this society, Li-yan boldly defies the rules. The modern world after some years comes to the village and Li-yan goes to the modern world as does another from the village . I anxiously awaited the time when these two would meet again. This would have been 5 stars for me but even though the tea is central to the story, you get everything you ever wanted to know about tea and then some and this was just a bit too much at times. However, this is a satisfying, captivating story that I definitely recommend, especially to Lisa See's fans.

I received an advanced copy of this from Scribner through Edelweiss and NetGally.

I loved this book, as I do all of Lisa See's books! What a wonderful story entwining the culture of the Akha people of China, adoption, loss and finding peace in painful choices. Lisa See has done an amazing job researching her topics, and bringing them to life in this novel. The story takes place in a remote village in the Yunnan province in China, and centers around a culture that grows, tends to and ferments ancient tea treats to create Pu'er tea. I love tea, and it's rich history, so it made this book even more enjoyable! Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy that the gave me to read and review!

This might be my favorite ever from Lisa See. From the total devastation of a mother leaving her child on the doorstep of an orphanage to a young Chinese girl raised by loving adoptive parents in America, this story has all the highs and lows that make See such a remarkable storyteller. It also blends in all kinds of facts about growing, harvesting, processing and trading in the tea market. Throughout this book I just wanted a really good cup of tea.

In all of Lisa See's books there is a good introduction to aspects of the culture and this one was no exception. I had no idea that twins were reviled and that the youth were encouraged to try out their prospective partners before marriage. Some insights into midwifery and family customs also added to the authenticity.

A beautifully told story of the tea region, I'll definitely be recommending this one.

Thanks Scribner and netgalley for this ARC.

Loved the atmospheric ambiance of this novel. i felt like I visited the mountains and smelled the tea leaves- its that good! The pain, love, and fierceness of the women in this story will inspire, motivate, and grab your heart.

This is a fascinating beautifully written book. It held me captivated throughout. I had never heard of the Akha tribe and their beliefs. I had no idea about the value of tea and those who farm and sell it. Some of the book is heartbreaking but there is a lot of joy and love there as well. I loved the ending. This is a book I will remember and be recommending for a long time.

This book follows the life of Li-yan who is a member of the Akha hill tribe in China. Her family, along with a large majority of the tribe, makes a living growing and harvesting tea. The tribe has some very strict practices and rituals based on superstition. Twin births are considered defects and classified as human rejects. Custom requires that they be killed by their father and the parents banished from the community.

Li-yan falls in love with a boy in the village named San-pa. The family does not want them involved due to their birth signs not being compatible. Li-yan discovers she is pregnant with San-pa’s child after he has moved to Thailand. Her pregnancy is hidden with the assistance of her mother. After the birth, the baby is placed in an orphanage and adopted in America.

The book follows Li-yan’s life over the next twenty years as she ventures outside her tribe into the modern day world. Li-yan aches to find the child that she gave up. She has little information on her daughter from the orphanage due to their poor record keeping. Her daughter named Haley lives in California and is also searching for clues about her natural parents. As a young adult she begins to trace her heritage based upon an item left with her at the orphanage. Mother and daughter continue to pursue the answers from their past.

Descriptive and beautifully written, this book is a wonderful portrayal of overcoming obstacles. I enjoyed learning about a new culture while reading this well researched book.

This is an excellent book. my only complaint was that the first significant portion slogged along quite a bit. Honestly, if a good friend hadn't recommended it, I probably would have abandoned it. I'm so glad I didn't because from there it became a page turner - filled with intrigue, beautifully written with strong character development. what's more, the writing was so well done I could easily picture the setting, the villages, their ceremonial outfits and of course, the tea. What a magical story.

“As A-ma said, every story, every dream, every waking minute of our lives is filled with one fateful coincidence after another.”

Naturally, we do not see these ‘fateful coincidences’ as such until the passage of time reveals all. This is a beautiful and brutal tale about Li-yan and how her cultural values shape her life. As an Akha, her family are tea-collectors but that isn’t scratching the surface of how their traditions lift and destroy Li-yan’s future. The Akha, also known as Hani by the Chinese government are a recognized minority. In many ways they are cut off from the modern world and their traditions remain untainted by the outside world. But the modern world is much like water, it will find a way in. As an American peering into the superstitions and traditions, they certainly seem backwards and unconscionable in the cruelty of their rules. That a child born without a father should die, that twins are an evil omen and meet the same fate… well… it’s easy to look into another culture and see horror. Introduced to her first in childhood, Li-yan acts much as any little girl would- shamed by behaviors that are second nature to so many of us. Early on she is meant to learn how to be a midwife, but there are traditions that she cannot stomach. She shows such promise with her education, and this line alone speaks volumes about how many outsiders feel as spectator to the Akha’s way of life. “I’ve lived many years among you,” he says, “and I can tell you this. Your people have no regard for education. You would rather let your children gather food, hunt, and nap than study. You boast of the Akha having one mind, but that mind is shy, closed and suspicious. In this way, you ethnic minorities are all alike.” Hence, Li-yan is chosen to bring honor to the village and inspire other children with her gifted mind. But fate is like the wind and changes direction without warning, blowing us at it’s whims. Li-Yan’s choices with her heart leave her with a child, but she cannot do as she ‘must’. There will be a great divide, she too will face the decision to reject her child, to kill it. Will she?

It is easy to disparage another culture, don’t be put off, there is wisdom and beautiful ceremony within the Akha. As with everything in life, there is good and bad. The traditions that damn her also become her salvation in the tea industry. Her future alters much as does that of her tribe, becoming slowly modernized after she has left. The novel is shockingly disturbing one moment and tenderly beautiful the next. Rather than just a story of love and loss it is rich in culture, history, superstitions, family and the longings of one young girl into adulthood. How does a tea cake hold the answers to an adopted girl’s life? How does one piece of seemingly useless, haunted land tie a generation of women together? Lisa See has written a gorgeous tale and given us a window into the life of a tribe that most of us have never heard of. I was stunned, disgusted, delighted, and sad. This novel is everything a story should be. Regardless of our ethnicity, human beings long for the same things. We all want to be the captain of our own fate, we hunger to break away from ties that strangle us and live our life from the heart of our longings. There will always be obstructions, sometimes it means betraying traditions and family to meet our purpose. Sometimes we are the shadow in our life, choosing poorly in love and other matters, but we (much as Li-yan learns) can change our path. We don’t have to remain damned for our choices. Out of our mistakes, a life can spring forward. In time, we see and experience many deaths and rebirths (including our own) shedding skins, meeting fate with the ability to master what seemed to be our doom.

As another story is intertwined, that of a adoptee of Chinese heritage with only a tea cake as a clue to her origins, the reader witnesses how culture is effected. It’s human nature to hunger for the answers to your beginnings, as if we must understand the past, our ancestors to find our bearings in life. When the Western World adopts from outside of their own culture, it is often a transgression against the birth parents, a decision they didn’t even have a chance to agree to. This happens not just in China, but the world over. What is gained? What is the cost to the child and their birth family? Lisa See has written a rich, engrossing tale overflowing with traditions many of us would otherwise have never known about. A story that leaves us asking ourselves many questions. I want to explore many things about this novel, unfortunately I’d have to risk giving away spoilers. I imagine a book club could spend hours dissecting all of it, exposing the emotional distress some ‘traditions’ caused them to feel.

What looks like doom in the morning, can be happiness laying it’s tracks. I am much reminded of the Parable of the Chinese farmer. Look it up, it pertains to all of us. “We shall see.” You never know what anything will lead to. It’s easy to be hasty and see doom and gloom as much as we see something golden and miss the cracks in it. As for Li-yan and her fate,” we shall see”….

Publication Date: March 17, 2017

Scribner

This book was way out of my genre and I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. It was so beautifully written and I got to experience a Lisa See book. It was a wonderful experience. This is a historical fiction book of the culture of China. I got to learn a lot about their beliefs and superstitions. When I saw the title of the book I was attracted to it since when I was younger I lived on a street called Hummingbird Lane.

The story starts out about a young girl named Li-Yan who starts a relationship with a boy named San-pa. The parents don't want them to be together in marriage due to their birth signs, San-pa was born on a Tiger Day. Li-Yan was born on a Pig Day and this was uncalled for in their heritage.
Li-yan becomes pregnant and San-pa doesn't even know this since he is in Thailand at the time. Li-yan ends up having the baby but takes it to a house in a basket with a teacake. The family reports it, then the baby is adopted in America.

After mother and daughter have gone their separate ways, Li-yan slowly emerges from the security of her village to encounter modern life while Haley grows up a privileged and well-loved California girl. Despite Haley’s happy home life, she wonders about her origins; and Li-yan longs for her lost daughter. They both search for and find answers in the tea that has shaped their family’s destiny for generations.

The second half of the book goes into detail of the tea making and cultural beliefs of the Chinese.
I highly recommend this book to those that love historical fiction. Also to those that love to learn about cultures of another Country, China.

I want to thank Netgalley, Lisa See and the publisher for a copy of this book.

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.