Book Review: The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See
In The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See, the author crafts a breathtaking and emotionally resonant novel about mothers and daughters, cultural heritage, and the invisible threads that bind people across time and distance. Set among the Akha ethnic minority in the mountains of Yunnan Province, the novel offers a vivid portrait of a way of life rarely depicted in fiction — and the painful choices demanded by tradition and circumstance.
The story follows Li-yan, a young girl born into a tea-picking family governed by strict Akha customs. When she breaks from tradition by having a child out of wedlock, Li-yan makes the agonizing decision to give her daughter up for adoption — a choice that will reverberate throughout both of their lives. As Li-yan grows into a skilled tea master and her daughter Haley grows up in California, the novel traces their parallel journeys of identity, longing, and rediscovery.
See’s prose is lyrical and immersive, rich with the scents and textures of tea and the rhythms of mountain life. Her attention to cultural detail is impeccable, offering a respectful and nuanced look at the Akha people, their rituals, and their struggles in a rapidly modernizing world. But it’s the emotional core — the aching bond between mother and child — that makes the novel unforgettable.
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane is a deeply moving exploration of love, loss, and belonging. Lisa See’s ability to weave history, culture, and heartache into a compelling narrative results in a story that is both expansive and intimate. It’s a novel that lingers in the soul — a powerful reminder that even across continents, the ties of love can endure.
About The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See
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.
