Bookish Gift Guide 2017: Historical Fiction Reads

This is the week where everyone is hustling and bustling trying to finish their holiday shopping. If you need a few quick gifts for family or a friend, check out my Bookish Gift Guide series. Although I love historical fiction, I selected only a few of my top favorite historical fiction novels that I've read in the last few years.

1. Dollbaby by Laura Lane McNeal is a coming-of-age novel set in 1960's in New Orleans. Ibby moves in with grandmother, Fannie, at a young age. Over the course of four year intervals, readers learn more about Ibby, Fannie, Queenie and Doll. The four women bond over good and tough times regarding family and segregation.

2. Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee is a wonderful western historical fiction. Join two girls traveling out West on the Oregon Trail while they meet new friends and battle the rough terrain. What I love about this book is the diversity between the group of five friends. Their knowledge and acceptance of each other leads to their survival.

3. Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley is set in 1959 in Virginia. Sarah Dunbar is one of the first black students to attend all-white Jefferson High School. There she meets Linda Hairston, daughter of town's most vocal opponents of school integration. In this novel, star-crossed lovers must hide their feelings for one another in order to protect each other.

4. Outrun the Moon by Stacey Lee is set in 1906 in San Francisco. Mercy Wong is determined to break from the poverty of Chinatown and creates a new persona as a wealthy heiress who gains entry into a boarding school for wealthy white girls. But then a historic Earthquake strikes! Pick up this book to find what happens to Mercy.

5. The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See focuses on mother and daughter relationships. Li-Yan lives in a village of the Akha people of Yunnan China until she is forced to abandon her daughter. Throughout the novel, Li-Yan separates from her mother and daughter but finally reconnects with them by the end of the book. Her mother stays in the village while Li-Yan seeks for a better education. Li-Yan's daughter is adopted by an American couple who live in California. This novel is a story about tradition, culture, family, love, loss, sacrifice, perseverance, new beginnings and origins.

Lisa See's The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane Event Recap

I was fortunate enough to meet Lisa See at the Brookline Booksmith on Tuesday, March 28, 2017. I have been reading See's books ever since 2005 when Snow Flower and the Secret Fan came out. See is one of the very few adult fiction authors that I love. I have always had a fascination with historical fiction and books about Chinese culture ever since I read part of the Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan back in 2001.

Prior to the event, I already read an e-ARC version of The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane and fell in love! The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane is now my favorite book written by See. This book is fantastic for all ages and for those who want to learn more about the Akha ethnic group living in Yunnan China as well as the origins of Pu-erh tea. Check out my review for The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane here.

I arrived at Brookline Booksmith around 6:30ish and not many of the chairs were filled. I would say there were about six or so people waiting for the event. Closer to 6:55 pm, many of the seats were filled. See started her talk with an introduction about her research and inspiration for the book. She went to the movie theaters with her husband one day in Santa Monica and saw a Caucasian couple with an Asian adopted daughter. See saw the love between the family.

See's books are often about the relationships and emotions of mothers and daughters, which I love reading about. See managed to do a lot of research regarding transnational adoption and China's one child policy while being able to delve into the history of tea and the Tea Horse Road of Yunnan. The process of how Pu-erh tea came to be was an accident. Tea fermented when the tea was being traded from China to Tibet. The different levels in humidity and the temperatures along with the snow added in the creation of  Pu-erh.  Pu-erh tea became highly popular in Hong Kong and Guangzhou for Dim Sum.

See had the pleasure meeting the biggest importer of Pu-erh tea in China and was able to see the tea picking in action during the prime time of tea picking season. For The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, See researched 27 ethnic minority groups in Yunnan. In China, 95% of the people are part of the Han majority while the 5% represents 55 ethnic minorities. After settling on writing about the Akha people, See was able to visit a village and learn about their culture.

See's favorite chapter of the novel is the group therapy session when Hayley is in a round table discussion with other adoptees from China. See was able to reach out to 18-year-old to 22-year-old women who are adopted from China regarding their adoption process for accurate emotions and responses for Hayley's portion of The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane. Many of the women wrote long responses, some even up to 50 pages. Many were conflicted with their identity. Are they Chinese? American? Chinese American? Or are they something else?

See discussed a little bit of her ancestry and how her great grandfather worked on the transcontinental railroad and how you identify yourself with people around you. Charlotte, a college-aged young lady in the audience, has been corresponding with See for quite some time about her adoption experience and how she identifies herself. Charlotte's mother spoke about the adoption process and also how Charlotte was able to meet her birth parents via Skype. It was an exhilarating and overwhelming experience since it's very hard for children to reconnect with their birth parents. The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane is one of the deepest books written about a mother's and a daughter's love. It was mentioned during the talk that motherly love is when you "take pain and [you] carry it in the heart."

I was able to meet See and gush about how I have been reading her books since Snow Flower and the Secret Fan came out. See is one of the authors I have been wanting to meet in my life time and I relished the fact I got to meet her.

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See

Title: The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
Author: Lisa See
Publisher: Scribner
Publication date: March 21, 2017
Pages: 384
Source/format: e-ARC from publisher

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆ 

Synopsis (from goodreads.com):

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.

M Y  T H O U G H T S

Li-Yan lives in the Spring Well Village, one of the many villages of the Akha people. Akha people, are one of the many ethnic tribes of people who live in the Yunnan province of China. Li-Yan falls in love with classmate Sen-pa from the Shelter Shadow Village but their parents do not approve of the marriage. Li-Yan finds out she is pregnant with his child. Because it's taboo to have a child unmarried, Li-Yan end up abandoning her daughter at an orphanage with a tea cake instead of following tradition to kill the child. Her daughter, Haley, ends up being adopted by an American couple in California. Both Li-Yan and Haley is curious about each other and they hope to find answers about each other.

A-ma can be very strict about things in the family but because Li-Yan is her only daughter, she tries to help Li-Yan during the pregnancy and conceal it from the family since its taboo to be pregnant when unmarried. Li-Yan had to give up her dream to past an exam to go to college but she wanted to make sure can provide a good life for her child. Her sacrifice for many things has helped her daughter obtain a better life.

Although her life is a constant struggle, Li-Yan is able to relocate away from her Akha home to a trade school in Kunming to start off with a clean slate. The mother and daughter relationships are vital in the novel just like how the special ancient tea grove is passed down the family from mother to daughter. The women in The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane are strong women; they are resilient.

Lisa See's The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane is beautifully written and it's compelling. Her narration is that of a well versed storyteller. She educates readers about the traditions and culture of the Akhapeople. I found it very interesting to learn more about the Akha people and See did her research well. The art of tea is explained exquistely throughout the book. I am a huge tea lover so I found it fascinating to read. Cultivating tea to brewing tea is very complex and tea aficionados will enjoy reading about the history of tea, especially of Pu'er. Through tea Li-Yan is connected to her family roots and most importantly to her daughter. The yellow threads in the tea cakes bring the family together.

The novel is mostly in first person through Li-Yan's perspective. See starts the novel off with Li-Yan being about 10 and ends the novel when Li-Yan is in her mid to late 30s. Through letters and support group dialogue, readers peer into Haley's life and how she is doing. Although heartbreaking at times, See has captured the spirit of what it means to be a daughter and a mother. While Li-Yan is separated from her daughter, she yearns for her every day. Haley always thinks about her birth mother and the tea cake.

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane is a story about tradition, culture, family, love, loss, sacrifice, perseverance, new beginnings and origins. The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane is by far my favorite novel by See and it makes a wonderful reading companion to Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. I highly recommend this novel.