RI Women’s Book Club: The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane

[CREDIT: Pixabay] The next Women’s Wilderness Weekend of RI Women’s book club in November will discuss ‘The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane’ by Lisa See.

The focus of our book selections for the WWW of RI Book Club centers on Women authors writing about women’s stories, connections, history, nature, and overcoming adversity.

Anyone in the WWW of RI community is welcome to participate regardless of your attendance at our weekend events.

WWW of RI Book Club Rules:

• Please obtain a copy of the book, either by borrowing from the library, borrowing from someone you know, or purchasing. Read the book on your own during the month. Audio books are good too. We will meet in person to discuss the book.
• Suggestions are highly welcome. Please let us know what you are interested in.
• Please read the book, or at least attempt to read it so you can contribute to the discussion.
• Everyone reads at their own pace, and that is fine. Anyone with interest in the book club can be included, whether you finish the book in two days or only get half way through.
• Any and all conversation is welcome at the book discussions but please be courteous and kind. You can disagree with someone, but always do it respectfully. 
• You do not need to participate every month to be part of the book club. Read what interests you and attend when you can.

Now-November’s book

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa See, “one of those special writers capable of delivering both poetry and plot” (The New York Times Book Review), a moving novel about tradition, tea farming, and the bonds

‘The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane’ by Lisa See is the subject of the November Women’s Wilderness Weekend of RI book club meeting.

between mothers and daughters. 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.

Discussion for this book will take place on November 17th at 1 p.m. following the WWW October Weekend Wrap-up Board Meeting.  Please reach out to Jessy at jessyjakul@gmail.com to be included.