My
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 1/2
Book Description:
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.
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.
My musings:
I can’t start this review without first saying a HUGE thank
you to the Goodreads community, who continue to put me on to fantastic new books
I wouldn’t normally pick up. The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane is a perfect
example – with a title that is so obviously not my usual genre, I would have
never read this marvel of a story had I not stumbled across a few rave reviews
by much respected readers on Goodreads, who highly recommended it. Feeling like
something different from my usual fare of gruesome murder mysteries and
psychological thrillers, I downloaded the audiobook and - WOW! What a fantastic
read!
I have longed for some armchair travel to a remote and culturally
diverse place for some time, and Lisa See’s book delivered it in spades.
Transported off to a different world altogether, I not only discovered the
culture of the Akha people (one of the 50 ethnic minorities living in China),
but learned so much about my favourite beverage – tea – that it has added a
whole new depth to my morning cuppa of Chinese Jasmine tea. See seamlessly
blends facts and fiction, educating the armchair traveller as the story
progresses and adding depth to her characters. I fell in love with Li-yan, and
felt quite bereft when the book ended. Li-yan’s journey from her simple and yet
culturally rich life in the remote mountain village in Yunnan to being
confronted with all the trappings of 20th century life was
fascinating. I often tried to put myself in her shoes, thinking how strange it
must feel to come from a place without cars and electricity, and suddenly
having to learn her way around a computer, catch a plane, drive a car. Such different
worlds! See’s astute descriptions of how the 21st century finally catches up
with the Akha people were also thought provoking, as I have witnessed these
changes myself when travelling to previously untouched regions, where everyone suddenly
owns a mobile phone.
Following Li-yan’s life from her early childhood to young
adulthood and finally being a wife and mother, the book took me on an
incredible journey I will remember for a long time to come. I thoroughly
admired Li-yan’s courage and resilience in the face of adversity, and she soon
was as real to me as someone I had known all my life. I now feel like I want to
go to Yunnan and sip some of the famous Pu’er’ tea that influenced Li-yan’s
life so much! Whilst most of the book is written from Li-yan’s POV, See
incorporates some clever and unusual chapters revealing the fate of Li-yan’s
abandoned daughter, who has been adopted by a wealthy American couple and is
struggling with her own identity as she grows up not knowing her origins.
Whilst I initially struggled with Hailey’s voice in the narration, I was able
to connect more deeply with her towards the end of the book, and found her
story a worthwhile journey in its own right. See’s insights into cross-cultural
adoption made for some interesting reflection and discussion points, and it
would be interesting to read more about Hailey’s life in the years following
the book’s ending.
Hours of pleasure and joyful anticipation of my commute (and
listening to the story) later, and I am still rocked by the emotional impact the
story had on me. A fantastic read, and very much recommended. Don’t be put off
by the title, as I was, because this in an author that really packs some punch
and you won’t regret picking up this marvel of a book. Definitely on my
favourite list for the year!
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