The Red Thread

The Red Thread by Ann Hood tells the story of five couples wanting to adopt a baby and the story of Maya, the woman who runs the Red Thread Adoption Agency. All of the babies for adoption come from China and this novel tells the baby and birth mother's story too. It is a very readable book, nicely and smoothly written, with short chapters that go back and forth among the couples' stories, interwoven with five stories from China. Each of the latter only has a single entry. At first I found so many stories a bit confusing and had to keep looking back to remind myself of the background of each - who had the miscarriages, who was in a second marriage, who had a disabled daughter, etc. Eventually, I got it pretty well figured out and kept it show more all straight.

Maya has a story herself, a sad one. It appears to mirror a bit the author's story (noted in the acknowledgments section), so it felt real in its emotionally laden narrative. It is the Chinese stories that are saddest of all, but unlike the adoptive families, there is no happy ending for them.

It is up to the reader's own philosophy about fate and destiny to decide whether there is truly an invisible red thread that joins these families together. show less

This is a beautiful story about the thread of connection that people have who desire and long for a child. The novel centers on Maya who owns and operates The Red Thread Adoption Agency which helps families adopt baby girls from China. She has hidden her own previous loss of a child and marriage from her friends, clients and staff. The story focuses on six couples, including Emily, one of Maya's closest friends. She alternately shares the stories of six women from China and their sad stories of how they had to abandon their daughters. Ann Hood flawlessly threads the stories together so that they are not overwhelming or hard to follow and in the end, she seams together the loose ends. Maya is the thread that connects all of the show more characters while she is on her own journey of healing and exploration of how she can find wholeness in her own life once again.

This is a beautifully written novel that I found touching and heartfelt. I felt a sense of connection with the characters and their stories and it stirred my own emotions as one who had a strong desire to have a child and became a mother in my mid-thirties. As I read the stories of the Chinese women who had to give up their beloved daughters it made me stop and think on a deeper level. These babies are often well loved and their parents often want to keep them, there are reasons that they must be put up for adoption. In most cases, they are forced to do so. It doesn't take away the pain from the parents letting them go in the hopes of a better life in America for their child. The stories shared scenarios and experiences that give a cultural background and delve into the experiences and emotion of foreign adoption. Some of these stories will definitely tug at your heartstrings as they did mine. My heart went out to the birth mothers who had to let go of their own thread of connection to their baby girls and allowed another connection to be put in place. show less

This is a beautiful story about the thread of connection that people have who desire and long for a child. The novel centers on Maya who owns and operates The Red Thread Adoption Agency which helps families adopt baby girls from China. She has hidden her own previous loss of a child and marriage from her friends, clients and staff. The story focuses on six couples, including Emily, one of Maya's closest friends. She alternately shares the stories of six women from China and their sad stories of how they had to abandon their daughters. Ann Hood flawlessly threads the stories together so that they are not overwhelming or hard to follow and in the end, she seams together the loose ends. Maya is the thread that connects all of the show more characters while she is on her own journey of healing and exploration of how she can find wholeness in her own life once again.

This is a beautifully written novel that I found touching and heartfelt. I felt a sense of connection with the characters and their stories and it stirred my own emotions as one who had a strong desire to have a child and became a mother in my mid-thirties. As I read the stories of the Chinese women who had to give up their beloved daughters it made me stop and think on a deeper level. These babies are often well loved and their parents often want to keep them, there are reasons that they must be put up for adoption. In most cases, they are forced to do so. It doesn't take away the pain from the parents letting them go in the hopes of a better life in America for their child. The stories shared scenarios and experiences that give a cultural background and delve into the experiences and emotion of foreign adoption. Some of these stories will definitely tug at your heartstrings as they did mine. My heart went out to the birth mothers who had to let go of their own thread of connection to their baby girls and allowed another connection to be put in place.

This is an intensely personal story for Ann Hood who lost a child and went through a similar adoption process. This book is fiction but there seems to be some parallels to her own life. Her writing is superb and rich, this is an author that you don't want to miss. show less

The Red Thread in Ann Hood's novel title refers to a Chinese saying that an invisible red thread links people who are destined to be connected.

The novel is about a group of American couples who hope to adopt a Chinese child, as well as the stories of how those children came to be relinquished by their mothers.

After Hood lost her own child she and her husband adopted a Chinese child. The novel was inspired by the experience.

I first read Hood when the publisher sent me her memoir Morningstar: Growing Up with Books, which I devoured in one sitting.

Hood creates amazingly realistic characters. I thought about a couple I know who went through years trying everything to get pregnant before adopting two children, one from Korea.

Maya runs an show more adoption agency to connect American parents with Chinese orphans. Beneath her professional and competent veneer she hides a painful past that won't allow her to move on, a guilt so deep she can't share it with her closest friends.

Chapters explore the couples who have come to her, each with their personal needs and fears, with strong or fragile relationships. Some have step-children and natural children who are disappointments. Their lives become emotional roller coasters of expectation, second thoughts, and marital stress.

Poignant stories of the Chinese children imagine mothers unwilling to give up their girl children; they are heart-breaking. China's law allowing families to have one child became relaxed to two children. It still meant that families could only afford to have one girl child.

Knitting figures into the stories; Maya knits as therapy, expectant mothers knit for their imagined children.

The Red Thread would make a wonderful book club pick.

I purchased a book at my local bookstore. show less

I love Ann Hood's books. Reading them, whether a novel or a memoir, feels like sitting down with a close friend. Her characters are vibrant and authentic and each story is wrapped in an emotional context that always draws me in. This story is fiction, but has to have been influenced by her own experience. After losing her own young daughter to a virulent sudden infection (read her memoir "Comfort") she and her husband decide to adopt another daughter, a Chinese orphan from the Hunan province. In the novel, we follow 6 couples who are embarking on the process of adopting a Chinese abandoned girl as well as hear the stories of the 6 Chinese mothers who must give up their daughters. Holding it all together is the director of the Red Thread show more Adoption Agency, who has her own story. Believing that a red thread exists that ties a new born child to all the people who are important in its life, the red thread binds all these stories. Bravo Ann Hood! show less

At first I found the book a bit hard to follow. There are so many characters introduced in a short period of time. After I got used to the rhythm of the story I was able to follow along without any troubles. The story is about 6 couples who are seeking adoption from The Red Thread Adoption Agency run by Maya. Maya opened the agency after losing her own daughter in a tragic accident. The book follows what the 6 adoptive couples go through and also follows the story of the Chinese birth mothers and what they are going through. I liked Maya and felt sorry for her. It kind of seemed like torture to bring babies into the lives of others after she has lost her own daughter. I liked this book alot and how it showed both sides of the story. I show more liked the idea that an invisible red thread connects people that are destined to be together. show less

I had a rough time warming up to the many characters in Ann Hood's latest novel. She may have spread the tale too thinly. The novel suffers from too many couples vying for the reader's attentions and sympathies. I didn't feel drawn to any of them. I would make the effort not to compare the protagonist of The Red Thread with her counterpart from The Knitting Circle but they are so obviously cut from the same cloth that it would be nearly impossible. Maybe I didn't let enough time pass between reading the two novels. It's been roughly a year or so.

I understand that underlying themes of loss pervade Hood's work due to her own tragic family history, but I'd like to see her stretch and move beyond it. Or, at the very least, not make it the show more only centerpiece of her next novel. I'll probably still share this book with those friends who are already Hood fans, but I probably won't recommend it to anyone who isn't familiar with her. I'm hoping there was or will be a bit more editing and rewriting done before the first print. show less