Review - The Red Thread by Ann Hood

I recently read The Red Thread by Ann Hood, and I found that I just couldn’t put it down. Maya opens the Red Thread Adoption Agency after visiting an orphanage in China, where she learns about the laws that restrict families to having one child (they can only have a second child if the first is a girl and the second is a boy). Maya is tormented by the loss of her own daughter, and this agency is a way for Maya to help other families.

We get to see into the lives of six couples who are in very different places in their lives, who want children for very different reasons. The Red Thread held onto me as I read about the couples and followed them through the orientation process, the emotions – excitement, doubt – that came with waiting, and the fear and joy of being a new parent.

Another aspect of this novel that really captivated me is being able to see into the lives of the women in China who were forced to give up their children. The transitions between the couples who were adopting the girls and the women from China who had no other choice were seamless.

Ann Hood was able to capture the emotions in this novel perfectly. Though this novel is a work of fiction, Ms. Hood took from her own experience of the loss of her daughter and the adoption of a baby girl from China.

I absolutely loved this novel and how it seemed to just catch my attention and tug on my heart from the very beginning. It is a heartwarming novel, one that I think will touch anyone who reads it!