[The red thread] is a novel written by the Australian author [[Nicholas Jose]] who lived in China for many years. At the centre of expat literary life in Beijing, the Bookworm--a lending library, book store and literary cafe, organizing lectures and literary festivals-- whose owner is Australian, presents, promotes and sells the books of many Australian authors in China.

[The red thread] of the title refers to the story line of the late Eighteenth - early Nineteenth Century Chinese novel by [[Shen Fu]] translated by [[Lin Yutang]] as [Six chapters of a floating life], also known under the alternative title [Six records of a floating life]. The story by [[Nicholas Jose]] follows and mirrors the events in [Six records of a floating life], creating a parallel story. Excerpts from [Six chapters of a floating life] in the translation of [[Lin Yutang]] are reprinted with permission, while other parts are translated by [[Nicholas Jose]].

[[Shen Fu]]'s work, [Six records of a floating life] was lost and rediscovered, but upon its rediscovery and publication in 1877, only four parts were included while another two parts are mentioned in the table of contents in the manuscript, but not been found. In the 1930s the other parts were claimed to have been found, but exposed as frauds. Following [[Lin Yutang]], [[Nicholas Jose]] prefers to refer to these parts as chapters enhancing the suggestion of "missing parts", whereas I would prefer the translation as records (as in the Penguin translation).

[The red thread] tells the story of a young Chinese man, named Shen Fuling, who works in an auction house in Shanghai. One day an old man, who often places antiques and curios at the auction house brings in a red-cloth bound volume of [[Shen Fu]]'s [Six chapters of a floating life]. The book is brought into the auction, but as Ruth, a young Australian woman starts bidding, Shen Fuling retracts the book. They meet again and fall in love, and as their love relationship develops, Shen Fuling believes that he is the reincarnation of [[Shen Fu]] and that their love is a re-enactment of the story of [Six chapters of a floating life]. As Ruth falls ill, Shen Fuling believes the only way to save her is to discover the two missing chapters, to know how to live out their story.

Although the story is simple, it could not always bind my attention, and I was a bit bored by the long excerpts taken from [Six chapters of a floating life]. From the moment Ruth falls ill, the story lines of [Six chapters of a floating life] and [The red thread] start diverging. There are not enough excerpts to reconstruct and fully grasp the story of [Six chapters of a floating life], and therefore it becomes difficult to understand where the story in [The red thread] is going, especially because in [Six chapters of a floating life] Yun/Ruth dies, while in [The red thread] she is saved. The love triangle has a lesbian tinge in the modern novel, but this element does not become clear enough from the excerpts. Possibly, the knowledge of the whole work, not just the excerpts, is required to fully appreciate [The red thread].

The story of Ruth and Shen Fuling is set against the background of modern Chinese society, and life in Shanghai. For this type of book I use the tag Chinoiserie for the genre of books written by foreigners about China. ( )

"The Red Thread" is a modern-day retelling of "Six Chapters Of A Floating Life," which is perhaps my favorite memoir from pre-modern China. Jose's narrative does an excellent job of evoking the atmosphere and style of its inspiration--indeed the excerpts from "Floating Life" (which appear throughout the novel in red text)--don't seem at all out of place. His descriptions of modern China in general, and Shanghai in particular, were also spot on and made me quite nostalgic, and his reinterpretation of Shen Fu's world dovetails perfectly into believable 21st century scenarios. The characters themselves might seem flat to the sensibilities of anyone accustomed to contemporary novels, but one has to remember that they aren't meant to be 21st century characters at all, but rather reincarnations of personalities from Fu's Qing-dynasty China. The ending does require a bit of credulity (books with magical realism often do), but overall, I found the read to be quite satisfying.