The President's Shadow

A Novel

De: Jennifer Haigh

Narrado por: Katharine Chin, Yu-Li Alice Shen

From the New York Times bestselling author of Mercy Street, a tense, propulsive family drama set in Shanghai, where a fractured American family faces its complicated past

Four years after their bitter divorce, Claire and Aaron Litvak get a phone call no parent is prepared for: their 22-year-old daughter Lindsey, teaching English in China during a college gap year, has been critically injured in a hit and run accident. At a Shanghai hospital they wait at her bedside, hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.

The accident unearths a deeper fissure in the family: the shocking event that ended the Litvaks’ marriage and turned Lindsey against them. Estranged from her parents, she has confided only in her younger sister, Grace, adopted as an infant from China. As Claire and Aaron struggle to get their bearings in bustling, cosmopolitan Shanghai, the newly prosperous “miracle city,” they face troubling questions about Lindsey’s life there, in which nothing is quite as it seems.

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.

“Ms. Haigh is an expertly nuanced storyteller long overdue for major attention. Her work is gripping, real, and totally immersive, akin to that of writers as different as Richard Price, Richard Ford, and Richard Russo.” ― The New York Times
©2025 Jennifer Haigh (P)2025 Little, Brown & Company

Deeply touching

I bought this book on a blind by at B N. I got the Audible so I can listen while I’m doing my work wow what can I say? This is just an amazing book. I didn’t expect all of the topics and for everything to hit you so deeply it’s very very well written the Audible is incredible. They do such a good job at portraying. The emotions will not Adding too much context to the story.
I this book will sit with me for a while in a good way and also an emotional way

Dis functionality on steroids.

Unable to put the book down, I am still digesting the characters, as though I were a psychologist.

dark

4.25 stars for Rabbit Moon by Jennifer Haigh. This book starts out with a very traumatic event and only gets heavier as it goes on. It's the story of a broken family brought together by tragedy. If you are someone like me who needs some shred of redemption in your dark reading - this is not the book for you. In spite of how well written it is, I find it hard to say I "liked" this book. It's just very grim. Trigger warnings abound so if you are sensitive to certain themes, you should definitely check before going in. I'd recommend for readers who appreciate a well told dysfunctional family drama and don't really care if a story is depressing AF as long as the writing is solid.

Rounded Up Rating

Ms. Haigh is one of my favorite authors, so I had high expectations for this one. While the book started off strong and was well-written, the primary point of conflict (no spoilers) wasn't fully explored in terms of why it happened. Additionally, it felt like there were too many storylines so the author couldn't fully explore what appeared to be the primary story.

I did enjoy the book, for the most part. For me, the story rapidly lost steam in the last hour or so. The ending was disappointing and I admit that I didn't listen to the last 15 minutes.

The book is worth a credit---it's not a bad book, I rounded up my 3.5 rating to a 4. It's just not the talented Ms. Haigh's best work. It seemed to be an exercise in checking too many boxes in terms of contemporary topics, losing focus on the primary character's story.

Jennifer Haigh never disappoints

Loved this book. So different from Mercy Street yet still so compelling. Learned so much about the Chinese culture. She really delved into family dynamics when families are broken and grieving and did it with such truth. Cannot wait for her next boon.

Connections

The familial and international connections of families and a very clear snapshot of a modern and normal situation made international by adoption was eye opening and beautifully compelling

That it was mostly set on china.

I wish there had been more of a plot. It was a story that went nowhere.