Book Review: The Red Thread by Ann Hood

Last week I talked about how life events show up in my writing, and how I like watching for the unusual or quirky behaviors in people because these are the things that make a character believable. Makes them imperfect. Makes them come to life.

Then, I found a novel with a title that hits directly at the heart of my novel. I HAD to read that book!

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The Red Thread, by Ann Hood was written in 2010. It is a story of six American couples, each who want to adopt a baby girl from China. It’s also the story of six Chinese parents who, because of China’s One Child Family Planning Law, are forced to give up their baby girls.

The six American couples have complicated and sometimes overwhelming ordeals in their quest to build a family.  But the Chinese mothers’ stories just broke my heart.

**Spoiler Alert!**

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One young mother tried to keep her child hidden from the community because she already had a nine year old daughter. She would have been able to keep the second child had it been a son. (This part of the story is not fiction, but LAW!) She was tricked into helping another family member and left the sleeping baby unattended for a moment. Her husband when in the bedroom and took the baby away.

A teenage girl got pregnant and her boyfriend took off when he found out. When the baby girl was born, the teen had to sneak to the park with her newborn and abandon it there- hoping that she would be found before it was too late.

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Another mother had twins. Like the mom with a second child, she could have kept both if one had been a boy and one a girl, but since both twins were girls, she had to make a decision on which one to keep and which one to let go. (Talk about Sophie’s Choice!)

There are three more stories like this, each one devastating.

The American parents have their own regrets and pasts to work through in order to adopt a baby from China. It’s a soul wrenching story that, I believe, people who have never experienced adoption could completely understand. This story gives us a glimpse of that emotional upheaval.

The epilogue is eloquent torture. Ann Hood puts the words together in emotional beauty and my only regret in this story is that it seemed to end fairly abruptly.

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I wished I could have known more about why some of the characters made the decisions that they made. Did Sophie ever forgive Theo, and why is she staying with him? Nell, a powerful business woman, does everything she can to have a baby. Why did she think she needed a baby in her life anyway, and why did she realize she was making a big mistake only after she was on the flight to China? Did Maya ever forgive herself? Could she trust herself with a child?

I guess a good story gives you food for thought, huh?

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In the acknowledgements Ann Hood shares with us that she lost a baby daughter and that she and her family went through the adoption process for a baby girl from China. This fact blew me away! I don’t know how this woman, this mother, this author-lady could even write a story like this! She’s a super hero in my book.

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Ann Hood has written several adult novels, her newest, The Book That Matters Most, released in August 2016, is getting good reviews. I know that I’ll be reading it, along with all her others.

I send my love to all adoptive families. And to my favorite “baby”, David, I’m so blessed to have you in my life.

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself.

~Nadine

 P.S. In 2015, China relaxed its thirty year old One Child law, allowing families to have two children of either/both sexes.  However,in my opinion, I think a statewide tradition (especially in China) would be very hard to break.

The Red Thread

If you’ve followed this blog for a while, you know I’ve written a novel called THE INK OF TIME. Many of the smaller details that help tell the story are things that I’ve actually witnessed or experienced.

For example, I have friends who are scuba divers and they’ve talked about getting their certification in very dirty, murky water. This happens in my novel. 

My Grandma Hill had a dog named Duke. In my novel there is a dog named Duke. 

Some of my nephews are in and Irish band and one of them plays the bodhran, which is an Irish drum. I would have never known of this instrument without these young men in my life. A bodhran is a key component in the first part of my story. 

Also, my in-laws, at one time, drank prune juice mixed with vinegar to flush their digestive systems. One of my characters does this too.

These things help tell the story and give the characters life. I’m always on the look-out for ideas. I pay attention to the quirky or unusual.

Like the time Tim and I stopped at a truck stop to eat and the table next to us ordered steak. Who orders steak at a truck stop? This is a priceless bit of information. But it gets even better. When the steaks came out, the patron complained about the steak and proceeded to tell the waitress how to grill a good steak.

I think I laughed about that for five miles after we got back in the car. I’m going to use that snippet of life someday in one of my novels.

Anyway, couple of years ago I happened to notice a UPS calendar in a friend’s office. It was June 2014 and the quote was a Chinese proverb about an invisible red thread that connects those who are destined to meet. That quote gave me the fuel to keep my novel moving. 

Here is an excerpt from my novel that grew from that proverb.

…No answer from Otto prompted Hazel to take a red marker and small pad of paper from her backpack. She always carried something to doodle on- inspiration for a new tattoo design could hit at any time. Also, drawing helped her relax. She closed her eyes and started to draw. She started making zigzags across the page. After a bit her hand took control and she relaxed a little more. She only used the red marker, and never picked it up off the page. She drew and drew. Finally, she slept.

My idea of Hazel's doodle.

When she awoke, and as the fog of sleep lifted, she realized that Otto was frowning at the notepad still in her hand. She looked at it to see why. At first glance the page looked like a red scribble, like an angry knot of red yarn. But when she looked into the white negative space of the red doodle, the shape of the state of Alaska appeared. Attached by a crimson line across the paper, floating in the white space of the page, was a scribbled bundle of an infant swaddled in red. It looked as if a baby, floating in a vacuum, was tethered to Alaska.

“Well, this is interesting,” Otto said. “What’s it all about, Hazel?”

“I couldn’t relax. I tried to talk to you, but you fell asleep, so I had to do something,” Hazel explained. “Drawing always makes me feel better. I fell asleep while I was doodling.”

“It looks like Alaska…” Otto said.

“…with a baby tied to it,” Hazel finished in a whisper.

“Weird.”

They looked at it a moment longer then Hazel closed her notepad and stowed it as they prepared to land at the Fairbanks International Airport…

Then, this weekend I went to a library used book sale and found a book that kind of shocked me. The title is The Red Thread and it’s by Ann Hood. This book was written six years ago in 2010.

The blurb on the inside cover says it’s about a lady who opens an adoption agency that finds homes for Chinese baby girls in American homes. My book, without giving a spoiler, touches on this subject as well. I hope this story is not my story!!  

After I read The Red Thread, I’ll write a review for it.

I also looked on line and found that the “red thread idea  is somewhat synonymous with adoption. It's strange that I was drawn to that quote,  along with having never heard it before, adapted it to that very concept in my book.

Life is always full of 

surprises.

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself.

~Nadine