Rabbit Moon : A Novel

A young American woman in Shanghai ends up in a coma after a hit-and-run in Haigh's engrossing latest (after Mercy Street). Lindsey Litvak, 22, is supposed to be teaching English in Beijing, as her mother, Claire, insists to an agent from the U.S. Consulate who calls Claire with the news of Lindsey's accident. Unbeknownst to Lindsey's parents and adopted younger sister, Grace, who was born in China, Lindsey has been moonlighting as an escort. Claire and Lindsey's father, Aaron, who are divorced, fly to China from their homes in the American Northeast, leaving Grace at summer camp without telling her what happened to Lindsey. Upon the pair's arrival in Shanghai, they are unable to speak the language or communicate with Lindsey's doctor, and just barely able to navigate the city, a "veritable sea of people." As Lindsey's coma continues, Haigh alternates between the parents' perspectives, revealing how their old pattern of bickering returns now that they're forced to rely on each other. A final section from Grace's perspective ties up loose ends a bit too conveniently, but for the most part, Haigh keeps this family drama firing on all cylinders, and she succeeds at capturing Shanghai's dizzying effect on her characters. Readers will be transported. Agent: Bill Clegg, Clegg Agency. (Apr.)