The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane: A Novel
Description
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 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. Read more
Features:
Product Details:
- Publisher : Scribner; Unabridged edition (April 3, 2018)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 400 pages
- ISBN-10 : 6
- ISBN-13 : 36
- Item Weight : 10.2 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.25 x 0.8 x 8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #9,962 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #36 in Asian American Literature & Fiction #235 in Family Saga Fiction #834 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- #36 in Asian American Literature & Fiction