The Crimson Thread

A hypnotic retelling of the Rumpelstiltskin story, set in 1880s New York. A recent immigrant to New York from Ireland, Bertie is struggling to make ends meet when she finds work as a seamstress for a textile tycoon. And when the tycoon’s family fortune is threatened, Bertie’s father boasts that she can save the business. She can “practically spin straw into gold”. Amazingly, during the night, Bertie creates exquisite evening gowns – but only with the help of a mysterious man and his old spinning wheel. With his dazzling crimson thread, he makes the dresses look as if they are laced with real gold. But when he asks for her firstborn child in return for his help, Bertie never dreams that he is serious…

Product Details

Catalogue number

9358 in ROW Secondary Rewards Catalogue 2018/19

Format

Paperback

ISBN

9781407131962

Date published

July 5th, 2012

Lexile measure

800L Lexiles are the global standard in reading assessment. They are unique as they are able to measure a child and a book on the same scale – ensuring the right book gets to the right child at the right time.

For more details see What is a lexile?.

Accelerated Reader

AR book level: 5.6; Upper years; 7.0 points

Other details

288 pages

Condition

New

UK edition

Author/Illustrator

Suzanne Weyn

Suzanne Weyn grew up in Williston Park, Long Island, New York. She has three sisters and a brother. As a girl she was very interested in theater and in reading. Louisa May Alcott was her favorite author. Suzanne lived pretty close to the ocean and going to Jones Beach was one of favorite activities. Even today, if she goes too long without seeing the ocean, she starts feeling restless.

Suzanne now lives in upstate New York with her husband and two daughters. Her house is at the edge of the woods and is nearly 200 years old.

Suzanne’s most recent novels include The Bar Code Tattoo (2004) and The Bar Code Rebellion (2006). They are set in the near future based on the premise that everyone is branded with a bar code. The Bar Code Tattoo was selected by the American Library Association as a Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers and was a 2007 Nevada Library nominee for “Best Young Adult Fiction”. It is currently translated into German and was nominated for the 2007 Jugenliteraturpreis for Young People’s Literature. The Bar Code Rebellion continues the story, taking it into new areas, including cloning and nanotechnology. Suzanne’s other books for young adults include The Night Dance, Water Song and The Crimson Thread.

Her most recent title is the mystical historic romance, Reincarnation, from Scholastic Press. Suzanne says, “This was an idea that had been in my mind for quite a few years. I’d noticed that there is so much about people that just doesn’t make sense a lot of the time. Why does a person have a passion for a certain subject or period of history? So much falls into place if there is a former life lying just below a person’s conscious memory.

“It really doesn’t matter if a reader believes in reincarnation in order to enjoy the story. I hope readers will be able to put any doubts they might have aside and throw themselves into the narrative. It’s about reincarnation but also so much more.”