The tea girl of Hummingbird Lane

What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.

What this book is about

Li-yan is a young woman from the Akha hill tribe in Yunnan, China — a people with ancient traditions, strict birth customs, and one of the world's most prized tea trees. When Li-yan becomes pregnant outside of marriage, tribal law requires that she abandon the child. She leaves her daughter beside a rare tea tree with a wrapper of their family's pu'er tea. Her daughter Haley is adopted by an American family and grows up knowing nothing of her origins. Lisa See's novel follows both women across decades as they move through a changing China and a changing world — and toward each other. A moving, detailed portrait of a culture, a trade, and the silence between mothers and the children they give up.