The Girl with a Thousand Faces - by Sunyi Dean (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

From the USA Today bestselling author of The Book Eaters comes The Girl with a Thousand Faces, a Gothic tale set in a historical Hong Kong that meshes ancient myths and local legends into a haunting story of ghosts, grief, and women who will not forgive.

When Mercy Chan washed up on the shores of Hong Kong with no family, no money, and no memories, she was thrust into the horrors of World War II. She only survived by hiding in Kowloon Walled City, an infamous, ghost-infested slum full of lost and traumatized civilians. Since the end of the war, she has rebuilt her life and found work with the local triad as a ghost-talker, dealing with the angry and bitter spirits who haunt this place. These days, the filthy gutters and cramped alleyways of Kowloon feel like home.

But the past she can't remember won't let her go. An unusually powerful ghost has infested Kowloon's waterways, drowning innocents and threatening the district. Unnervingly, it claims to know Mercy--and her forgotten childhood. As Mercy is drawn into a deadly cat-and-mouse game with this malignant spirit, she begins to realize that the monster she fights within these walls may well be one of her own making.

33 years before, mere days ahead of the Japanese invasion, Sung Siu Yin and her mother flee Hong Kong, intending to hide out on her mother's ancestral island home. It's beautiful, tranquil, and remote. . . but also inhabited by ghosts ever since the entire village drowned in a storm many years ago. Still, it's better than living under occupation.

But as the war drags on and isolation sets in, Siu Yin is increasingly drawn into the island's grim past--a past that may still have a hold on the present. There is a darkness lurking beneath that idyllic ocean, and it has been waiting many years for someone to return.

"The Girl With a Thousand Faces confirms Sunyi Dean as one of the most interesting voices in genre fiction."--Gareth Brown, USA Today bestselling author of The Book of Doors

Review Quotes

"The Girl With a Thousand Faces gripped me from the start and refused to let go. This book has everything--intriguing characters, vividly-depicted settings, thrilling action and adventure. It is a mystery, a war story, a tragedy, but more than anything, it is a haunting story of loneliness, love, and loss. The Girl With a Thousand Faces confirms Sunyi Dean as one of the most interesting voices in genre fiction."--Gareth Brown, USA Today bestselling author of The Book of Doors

"With beautiful prose that haunts you well past its conclusion, The Girl with a Thousand Faces breathes new life into the Ghost Story. Dean captures the grief and trauma trapped within Kowloon Walled City and Hong Kong in the wake of WW2 without ever letting the personal wounds of familial afflictions escape you. You find yourself deeply moved by the flaws of Mercy and Siu Yin and the stories they shape for each other. This ghost story is not one you soon forget."--Ryan Rose, author of Seven Recipes for Revolution

Praise for The Book Eaters:

"A delightfully weird exploration of motherhood, queerness, and escaping patriarchal norms."--Buzzfeed

"I devoured this."--V. E. Schwab, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue

"A gripping and beautifully plotted story told with verve and deliciously dark wit."--The Daily Mail

"Raw and imaginative, this gritty, gothic anti-fairytale knows the truth: love will make a villain out of anyone."--Olivie Blake, New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six

"Unputdownable . . . The fascinating magic system, impeccable and unusual worldbuilding, and well-shaded characters will keep readers riveted through every twist of this wild ride."--Publishers Weekly, STARRED review

About the Author