The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See

Publisher: Scribner
On Sale Date: March 21st 2017
Pages: 371
Review copy provided by the publisher via Edelweiss

In the remote mountain village of Yunnan,China, Li-Yan lives with her parents. The live of the family that belongs to the ethnic minority of the Akha people, circles around the farming of tea for generations long. They live far away from all the cities, so they are quite surprised that one day a Jeep from the city stops at the village gate.

The stranger from the city is looking for a special kind of tea, that they grow here:Pu-Erh tea.
As Li-Yan is one of the few educated girls in the village, she figures as a translator for the stranger who wants to buy the tea as a wholesaler.
One thing leads to another, and soon enough Li-Yan has worked herself up to be a at the head of a tea business, and expecting a baby out of wedlock, which is a shame upon her family. When the baby is born, she wraps it in a blanket, and together with a tea cake, abandons it at the welfare center of the nearest city.

Her daughter is found and later on adopted by an American couple from California. She has everything she wishes for, but she keeps wondering about her birth mother, while back in China, Li-Yan starts to long more and more for her lost daughter. When Haley get's the chance to go to China for her study, she doesn't hestitate one second, which leads to a dramatic wrapping up of the story.

As I am a big fan of Chinese and Chinese-American books, and a fan of Lisa See's books as well, I was very excited to get the chance to read her newest book. The book started of great and kept being interesting untill the middle part, there it became slow and at some points sudden things where unclear for the reader to follow. It still wasn't clear to me after finishing if Li-Yan moved to the USA and back to China in the final part. And then the ending; In the beginning of the end part, the author clearly works to a certain meeting between the separated mother and daughter. To just let them meet at the very very end and then...the book al of a sudden ended! It would have been nice if there would have been an epilogue afterwards to wrap things up more nicely.

I really liked how the book switched between Haley and Li-Yan. Haley's parts are told in different forms, like an email conversation between her and a university professor who encourages her to go to China, and a transcripted group therapy session for adopted girls from China. The end part is told from her perspective.

This book will certainly please the fans of Lisa See's previous books. I really enjoyed reading this beautifully written book and am just looking forward when her next book will be out!