The Red Silk Thread: A Story of International Adoption was co-authored by Virginia Taylor and Anna Ning Taylor, who was adopted by the Taylor family from Hangzhou, China in 1995. Taylor elegantly recounted the journey of adopting and becoming loving mother for two daughters over the past 21 years in the book.
The Red Silk Thread was published by Boston Bilingual Media & Publishing Inc. in December 2016. A Chinese version of this book was published in China in 2014.
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Reviews
Beautifully written page-turner. Engaging and frank personal story of the joys and challenges of Chinese adoption.
By Betsy Frakeron, January 24, 2017 on Amazon.com
A beautifully written and engaging personal account of an American couple who journeyed to China twice to adopt their daughters, and again years later to visit the orphanages where the girls spent the first months of their lives. Virginia Ross Taylor’s sensitivity to the challenges and joys of dual cultural identities in international adoptive families is informed by an equal measure of love and intelligence. Her writing never verges on sentimentality and moves gently but quickly, with just the right dose of research to set this book in a larger context. Over 30 photos add to the liveliness and poignancy of this story, as does older daughter Anna’s moving description of her return to China to meet her earliest caregiver and a particular orphan boy.
According to an old Chinese legend, “An invisible red thread connects those are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstances.” Virginia shows “how adoption can deepen a family’s connection with the birth culture of their child and change them in the process.” Virginia continues, “For a family formed by adoption from overseas, the invisible red thread crosses borders as it becomes part of an intricate web of connections.” Both mother and daughter depict poignant and unexpected ways their lives changed.
I recommend this book to anyone, not just adoptive parents.
A riveting book about finding one’s identity.
By Philip Tsangon, February 7, 2017 on Amazon.com
Call it destiny or fate, adoption is like a “chance encounter”; lives collide and change forever the moment an adoptive parent is handed the baby. Such is the story of The Red Silk Thread by Dr. Virginia Ross Taylor, a story of her adopting and raising two Chinese daughters – one was found by passengers at a bustling train station as a one-week-old and another by a social worker in a basket at an orphanage gate – from half a globe away.
“Adoption is very simple if you think of the child only as a baby”, quotes Virginia at the beginning of Chapter 8:“Bridging Two Cultures – or Lost in Between”. What if the child blurts out one day, “I wish you had left me in China”, or says causally before dinnertime one evening, “Sometimes, I wish my birth parents had gotten to know me before they gave me away.” Such occasions indeed occurred in the book as the girls grew up in the New England town they live. Virginia honestly narrates her sometime painful efforts in leading and supporting them through moments of anger, confusion, tears, and turmoil as they reflected their foreign origin, struggled between two countries, two cultures, and two ethnicities to eventually make peace with who they are.
Those are moments we all experience more or less once we ourselves cross the border of a country, a state, or a city, pulling away from our roots to survive the unknown. Bridging the difference or lost in between, the book is more about finding one’s identity in a world that we all have migrated, a good read for everyone in a larger sense.
In the vivid descriptions of travels to China the author’s love and respect for the country shine through and made …
By A. Bullockon, January 27, 2017 on Amazon.com
I was riveted by this human story. It gave me new insight into the adoptive mother’s experience. There were so many moments that were full of heart that left the reader transfixed, and yet the story never comes across as sugar coated, or dishonest. The author deftly handles many tricky topics, ranging from China’s one-child policy to the complicated differences between Chinese children and Chinese children adopted by Americans. No matter what the topic, the writing always comes through as honest, respectful, and loving. The history provided about Chinese adoptions is so interesting, as well as clear and concise enough to preserve the reader’s attention and not interrupt the narrative. In the vivid descriptions of travels to China the author’s love and respect for the country shine through and made me feel I’d been there, too. I knew I would love this book, but I was truly blown away!