The Red Thread

A modern Shanghai appraiser’s relationship with an artist mirrors the story in an eighteenth-century book up for auction in this literary romance.

Shen, a young, American-educated appraiser for an auction house. Ruth is a gifted Australian artist he meets, it seems, by chance. And Han is a beautiful, enigmatic woman who both facilitates and complicates their relationship. Yet all three lives mysteriously mirror characters describes in a rare, eighteenth-century book that comes up for auction—a book that is missing its final chapters. As the characters in the original tale move toward an ominous, unknown end, Shen’s search for the missing pages goes from curiosity to desperation as he hopes to discover—and perhaps alter—his fated future with Ruth.

Author Nicholas Jose has taken one of China’s most cherished and elegant love stories, Six Chapters of a Floating Life, and seamlessly woven it into the glittering, high-rise world of present-day Shanghai. The Red Thread is an unforgettable, evocative novel of love and destiny, art and beauty, and the passion that ties one person to another forever.

Praise for The Red Thread

“A mysterious but classic work of Chinese literature exerts an influence on an unusual love triangle in this beguiling new novel by Australian writer Jose. . . . [A] stylish romance.” —Publishers Weekly 
“A love story of contemporary China that celebrates Shen Fu's classic nineteenth-century love story, Six Chapters of a Floating Life. . . . An involving novel animated by Buddhism's "red thread of passion," which connects individuals to each other and to the world.” —Booklist