I have loved Jennifer Haigh’s novels since I read her first. This novel was no disappointment. In fact, I suspect it will (should) be on the BEST BOOKS of 2025 lists. It is the story of a young woman whose life was turned upside down by her fragility and the predator next door.

Lyndsey escapes the unhappiness and dissatisfaction with her life by escaping to China, theoretically to teach English. There she becomes the target of a very different predator and becomes enmeshed in the horrors of the underbelly of Shanghai.

Her parents, newly divorced, are called to China after a horrific accident puts Lindsay in a comatose state in a strange Shanghai hospital.

The ray of sunshine is provided by Lyndsey’s adopted sister Grace, brought from China as an infant. They have enjoyed a close and loving relationship. It is Grace who tells much of the story, including the closure that readers (especially me) crave after reading a book of this power with such sympathetic characters.

I really loved this book. I highly recommend it to book groups, so much to discuss. I think it is extremely timely vis-à-vis our current interest in China. Haughty approaches the eternal mother-daughter struggle with empathy.

Thank you Netgalley for the privilege of reading this extraordinary novel.

Jennifer Haigh is the author of Mercy Street, a testament to women's rights to choose and a complex narrative. She continues on that thread in this very dense family drama set in China,

Very early on, divorced parents Claire and Aaron Litvak are called to Shanghai. Their eldest daughter has been in an accident and and is in a hospital. I feel that Haigh missed a bit here - the complete confusion of what was going on in the hospital could have likely been mined for more drama and description. She instead moves quickly to the life of the daughter Lindsey and what transpired up until her accident.

It's a curious novel It is certainly gripping and I do understand (I think!) what Haigh is trying to do. But the end, or the conclusion is unsatisfying to me and I wanted a bit more. It almost felt like some of the narrative was cut from interesting secondary characters that could have added to the drama and the overall point.
All in all, I was transfixed in the beginning and although I wish more drama had been sustained I enjoyed this novel and would recommend to any literary lover. I just hold Haigh to a bit higher standard. #littlebrownandcompany #rabbitmoon #jenniferhaigh

With her trademark psychological acuity, Jennifer Haigh delivers a taut, suspenseful story about family, secret lives, and the unbreakable bond between two sisters, the fabled red thread that ties them together across time and space.

Writing: 5/5 Plot: 4/5 Characters: 5/5

When red haired, six-foot tall Lindsey Litvak is slammed by a hit and run driver in Shanghai, her suspension between life and death is a shock for her family and friends, each of whom reflects on how this completely unforeseen point was reached. Her (bitterly) divorced parents — Aaron and Claire — who race across the world in a panic; her ethnically Chinese adopted sister Grace, now stuck in a Quaker summer camp that she hates while her parents abandon their homes; her secretive and stylish gay best friend Johnny, who fades into the background as the Americans march in; and even the apartment building manager who knew more about her situation than he lets on.

Backcasting through time, pieces of history help us to understand how the intersections between lives were set into motion, eventually crashing into the blunt trauma of the accident. The writing is excellent, full of small reflections and insight on the part of each character. Themes around cultural differences, coming-of-age stories, sexual predators, multi-cultural adoption, queerness, and all the various influences that shape a person permeate the novel.

Quotes:

“The Quaker camp, which Grace hates, looks like a penal colony and is priced like a five–star resort.”

“When disaster strikes, Claire can always be counted on to lose her shit, her anguish eclipsing the original crisis in its demands for attention and care. If the house burst into flames, Claire’s distress would demand the firefighters’ full attention. It would be unforgivable, an act of monstrous insensitivity, to put out the fire first.”

“Since earliest childhood, Lindsay has drawn up language like a cut flower and water.”

“Efficient sleeping is Aaron’s superpower. He can fall asleep at will – anytime, anywhere — and wake on time without setting an alarm. His consciousness operates on a toggle switch: the two settings are wide-awake and dead asleep, with nothing in between.”

“In those moments Lindsay was the whole world to him, the center of the known universe. The feeling was intoxicating. She would chase it for the rest of her life.”

“His skepticism was infectious; it made believing sympathetic. Eventually, Claire surrendered to it. Exhibiting a striking lack of foresight, she neglected to cultivate a relationship with God, to pray or fast or do any of the things a person would do if she actually believed. Now, in her hour of need, she feels unable to ask for blessings.”