The Red Thread is a fairytale with a Chinese adoption theme. Grace has done many events with families that have adopted from China and it's also something she herself has considered; so while it is something Grace has not personally experienced, it is something that she appreciates. At the events Grace attended she noticed that many Chinese adoption groups had taken the legend of the red thread (a belief that people destined to be together are joined by an invisible red thread) which was originally for marriages and reinterpreted it for adoption. She thought that was fascinating and wonderful, how myths are and can be transformed over time. She felt that it makes these beliefs more real, more "living" somehow. So Grace took their interpretation of the red thread and made a fairy tale story out of it.

There has been some concern that The Red Thread "glosses" over the truths of adoptions, painting an unrealistic picture of families torn apart as well as brought together. Grace apologizes for any possible insensitivities. The Red Thread is not about adoption as a fairy tale, it is a fairy tale with an adoption in it. Grace's intention was simply to write a fanciful story that all children, adopted or not, would find magical.