The Red Thread

One of the many things that changed when I became a mother was my taste in literature. A book that touched my “Mommy” emotions was “The Red Thread” by Ann Hood.

Hood developed characters that approach motherhood in different ways. The mother who lost a child and is afraid to love again, the woman who wants a child but is crippled by the lack of control over her own body, the woman who desperately wants a baby but has miscarried numerous times, are a few. All of the families choose to adopt baby girls from China. Woven into their quest to become mothers are the stories of the women in China who are giving up their daughters for various reasons. And then the overlaying theme of the book is that there is a red thread connecting every mother to her eventual child, even if that child is to be adopted. No one understands this more than a Mother, the love for a child is indescribable, until it is experienced.

This was the first novel I have read by Ann Hood. She made my list of authors to read further, as her writing was enigmatic and true. So many dynamics, but not overdone.