The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane

Author: Lisa See

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio, 2017

Pages: 9 Discs

Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Li-yan and her family align their lives around the seasons and the farming of tea. There is ritual and routine, and it has been ever thus for generations. Then one day a jeep appears at the village gate—the first automobile any of them have seen—and a stranger arrives.

In this remote Yunnan village, the stranger finds the rare tea he has been seeking and a reticent Akha people. In her biggest seller, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, See introduced the Yao people to her readers. Here she shares the customs of another Chinese ethnic minority, the Akha, whose world will soon change. Li-yan, one of the few educated girls on her mountain, translates for the stranger and is among the first to reject the rules that have shaped her existence. When she has a baby outside of wedlock, rather than stand by tradition, she wraps her daughter in a blanket, with a tea cake hidden in her swaddling, and abandons her in the nearest city.

After mother and daughter have gone their separate ways, Li-yan slowly emerges from the security and insularity 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.

A powerful story about a family, separated by circumstances, culture, and distance, Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane paints an unforgettable portrait of a little known region and its people and celebrates the bond that connects mothers and daughters.

Review: After trying to read the print book and not being able to get into the story, I decided to give the audio version a try. I'm so glad I didn't let this one pass me by.

Lisa See brings, what I see as a mysterious culture, to life in a wonderful family saga.

Maybe circumstances and events are a little too convenient for those of us grounded in the real world, but it IS fiction. See certainly has an ability to transport readers, and listening to this book highlighted her beautiful writing style.

Other Lisa See Novels Reviewed:

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan