The Red Thread - Softcover

Jose, Nicholas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0571206492 ISBN 13: 9780571206490

Publisher: Faber & Faber, 2001

Synopsis

An elegant and multi-layered novel, drawing comparisons with Memoirs of a Geisha and The English Patient, The Red Thread is rich, moving and unforgettable. Set in contemporary Shanghai, it is the story of an intense passion between Shen, a Chinese art dealer, and Ruth, a young Australian woman. As they fall in love, Shen finds that their lives are strangely mirrored in a rare Chinese manuscript which is nearly two hundred years old and of which the last two chapters have never been found. When Ruth falls prey to a terminal illness, Shen embarks on a desperate quest for the missing chapters hoping somehow to find a cure for the disease. But time is running out . . .

About this title

About the Author

Nicholas Jose was born in 1952, in London of South Australian parents, and grew up in Broken Hill, Traralgon, Perth and Adelaide. He was educated in South Australia and at the Australian National University, Canberra and Oxford University. He has travelled widely, and has lived and worked in Italy, England, Australia and China. In 1986-1987 he was attached to the Australian Studies Centre at the Beijing Foreign Studies University and East China Normal University, Shanghai. From 1987 to 1990 he was Cultural Counsellor at the Australian Embassy, Beijing.$$$The Red Thread is Nicholas Jose's sixth novel. The Custodians was published in July 1997 by Picador and was described by Jane Campion as 'an intimate, risk-taking portrait'.$$$His other novels include The Rose Crossing (published in the USA, Germany, France, China and Japan), Rowena's Field, Paper Nautilus and Avenue of Eternal Peace, which was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Prize in 1990 and adapted into the mini-series Children of the Dragon. Nicholas Jose has also published two collections of short stories - The Possession of Amber and Feathers or Lead.$$$Jose co-translated The Finish Line by Sang Ye, a book of bike rides across China and Australia, and The Ape Herd by Mang Ke. Other recent projects include co-editing Picador New Writing, and a play, Dead City, in a Q Theatre production. He has also published a collection of essays - Chinese Whispers.$$$Nicholas Jose was curatorial advisor on the exhibition projects 'Mao Goes Pop' (1993) and 'Arttaiwan' (1995) at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney and co-edited Arttaiwan with Yang Wen-i. He has written widely on contemporary Asian and Australian culture.

Edition details

• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0571206492
• ISBN 13: 9780571206490
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208