The Red Thread

Maya Lange, director of the Red Thread Adoption Agency, vets potential adoptive parents. She believes that an invisible thread connects the souls of abandoned Chinese babies with loving families. Hillary Huber genuinely portrays the array of characters in this three-part story: the Chinese families forced to cast aside baby girls, the joy and fear of the American adoptive parents, and Maya's grief over the accidental death of her own child. Huber excels in her narration of the Chinese women's stories. She embodies the pain of the mothers, particularly one who sews a pattern on her baby's blanket as a clue to her birth village. Like Hood's other novel, THE KNITTING CIRCLE, this is a compelling story of human ingenuity. K.P. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

January 18, 2010
In her engaging new tearjerker, Hood (The Knitting Circle
) follows several families as they attempt to adopt daughters from China. Holding down the center is Maya Lange, who, as head of the Red Thread Adoption Agency, is the prospective parents' guide through the adoption process. Childless Maya is driven by a desire to make amends for a tragic accident in her past, though her clients have their own share of heartbreak—miscarriages and infertility—and, predictably, the expectations and reservations about parenthood that they confide to Maya are shaped by a host of personal issues. In a nod to Hood's last novel, several women knit to calm their nerves as they await their new daughters. Meanwhile, Maya, also a knitter, takes painful steps toward letting go of the past. The individual arcs are woven together beautifully, though the interspersed tales of how the Chinese children came to be abandoned tend to clutter more than add. Regardless, Hood's sensitive depiction of her characters' hopes and fears makes for a moving story of dedication, forgiveness, and love.