ANN HOOD

The Red Thread

ISBN 978-0-393-07020-0

 

"The Red Thread is a work of aching beauty and indelible grace. A novel that elicits nothing less than wonder." Dennis Lehane

"Ann Hood has created a searingly moving story about the extraordinary, even magical ways that lives unravel and then connect."

Dani Shapiro

 

The Red Thread was inspired my family's decision to adopt our daughter Annabelle from China in 2005. Although the characters on that journey in the novel are all fictional, their desire to create families is universal and true. Like many adoptive parents, I wondered about the brave woman who gave up her daughter. Those imaginings led me to write the stories of six women in China who make that same painful decision. The Chinese belief in the red thread inspired both the title, and the metaphor of the story. There exists a silken red thread of destiny. It is said that this magical cord may tangle or stretch but never break. When a child is born, that invisible red thread connects it to all the people--past, present. and future--who will play a part in that child's life.