Jennifer Haigh's latest novel RABBIT MOON is a literary marvel which takes us across continents on a journey of self-discovery and sisterly love.The gravitational pull of this novel are the Litvak sisters: Lindsey and Grace. Lindsey is the older daughter born to Aaron, a successful entrepreneur and Claire, a frustrated, wanna be writer. Grace is the adopted daughter from an orphanage in China. Lindsey was 10 when she traveled with her parents to China where she first held her baby sister and the unbreakable bonds of love were formed and became unflappable. Their parent's marriage did not prove to be as formidable and ended in a divorce. Haigh's deft writing leads us to believe Lindsay, the beautiful, intelligent, polyglot is the central character. She's 17 when her mother finds her birth control pills. Claire's completely unraveled by Lindsey's revelation: the man she was sleeping with is the next door neighbor whom she and Aaron befriended. Lindsey is heartbroken that her illicit lover ends all communication after Aaron threatened him. Still, we feel empathy for the likable Lindsey. She feels unanchored at college and drops out. She decides to travel to China to teach English with her college boyfriend in tow. Lindsay severed ties with him and her parents and finds work as a highly compensated and coveted multilingual escort. Lindsey's only steadfast link is with her sister. Grace has always felt out of place being Asian in white suburbia despite being confident in the familial love she receives. An unexpected tragedy strikes Lindsey leaving her in a coma. Her estranged parents travel together to be by her bedside. The focus then shifts from Lindsey in a comatose state to the disparate mindsets of Aaron and Claire. "We live at the intersection of casuality and chance," is one of Haigh's astute observations along with opposing cultural/traditional theologies. Aaron is an atheist and very critical of any religious certainties or superstitions. Claire is far more open minded to Western/Eastern convictions. However, it's Aaron who believed "...in his shattered state, it seem{ed} to him that China has retaliated. For the offense of taking one of its daughters, they have been punished. China has taken one of theirs." When Grace's parents return home we follow her life as she becomes older, wiser and as fascinating as the other members of her family. Grace knows "The best predictor of female popularity is physical attractiveness. Every girl knows this. We are raised on Disney princesses; even our dolls are beautiful. From birth we're made to understand what's expected of us." Expect from award winning author Jennifer Haigh's exceptional novel to be transported by this family's saga interwoven with enigmatic and compelling storytelling.
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