The Red Thread by Ann Hood
From Goodreads: “In China there is a belief that people who are destined to be together are connected by an invisible red thread. Who is at the end of your red thread?”
After losing her infant daughter in a freak accident, Maya Lange opens The Red Thread, an adoption agency that specializes in placing baby girls from China with American families. Maya finds some comfort in her work, until a group of six couples share their personal stories of their desire for a child. Their painful and courageous journey toward adoption forces her to confront the lost daughter of her past. Brilliantly braiding together the stories of Chinese birth mothers who give up their daughters, Ann Hood writes a moving and beautifully told novel of fate and the red thread that binds these characters’ lives. Heartrending and wise, The Red Thread is a stirring portrait of unforgettable love and yearning for a baby.
My Thoughts: I really loved this book. I listened to it as an audio book and I think that was the perfect medium for this novel. I was able to listen slowly and really devour the story. Hood does a beautiful job of writing emotion into this book. I loved how interspersed in the story of the families waiting for babies are the stories of those mothers who gave up their daughters. She writes of the desperation felt by a girl who had a baby out of wedlock. The helplessness of a mother forced to give her baby up because she was an invaluable girl, and the grief felt by a father who give his baby up after her mother was killed in a car accident. The stories are heart wrenching and raw.
When Hood writes of the families in America waiting to adopt she tells of the desperation, despair and longing that these mothers who cannot conceive (or who are afraid to conceive). From their initial excitement to start the adoption process, the anxiety and cold feet felt by some at the news of getting their baby, and the excitement of travelling to China to pick up their daughter. I did not always like the families in America, at times they were selfish, insensitive, and made terrible choices but this is what makes them human and believable. Hood did a wonderful job bringing her characters to life and I highly recommend this book!
I give it 5/5!
