March Book Club
Wednesday, March 21st
1:00PM - 3:00PM
The Tea Girl of Humming Bird Lane
By Lisa See
No Charge & No Reservation Necessary
Just stop in for a Casual Discussion
A thrilling new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author
Lisa See explores the lives of a Chinese mother and her
daughter who has been adopted by an American couple.
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.
