Red Thread

Set in contemporary Shanghai, this work tells the story of Shen, a Chinese art dealer and Ruth a young Australian artist. Their obsessive love is mirrored in an antique manuscript, and when Ruth falls prey to a terminal illness Shen embarks on a quest for the missing chapters.

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.