Editorial Content for The Girl with a Thousand Faces

Sunyi Dean has achieved something special with her latest novel. THE GIRL WITH A THOUSAND FACES blends gothic horror, historical fantasy, mystical realism and Chinese cultural elements, making it perhaps the most unique book you will read this year.

The story itself and the way it is told will keep readers’ heads spinning as the outcome feels like a Russian doll in its plot creation. Dean uses this style to play with your feelings as you seek to unravel the riddles within to determine what is actually going on and which characters are worth pulling for. 

First of all, Dean dedicates the book to her grandmother, who was born over 100 years ago in rural Shanghai, as well as to every woman who could not tell her own story because the world did not give them a voice. She also provides a glossary of Chinese names and terms that are used within the text, along with pronunciations of each so that readers can properly hear them in their own inner voice.

"The images that Sunyi Dean has produced in THE GIRL WITH A THOUSAND FACES will be difficult to forget, and the story is one that resembles nothing you have seen before. She successfully has created a genre uniquely its own with this mesmerizing tale."

The action starts in 1975. We are introduced to Mercy Chan, who lives her life as a “ghost talker” operating within Kowloon Walled City. They are temporarily protected there from the Japanese, who have taken over much of their outside world. However, all is not completely safe within the walls of Kowloon as the city itself is haunted by ghosts and an incredibly powerful one in particular that threatens to eat everything in its path.

Mercy maintains her personal cover, as well as a feeling of safety by lending out her services as a ghost talker, assisting the members of the powerful gang that rules the streets of Kowloon. The first interaction we see with Mercy dealing with ghosts or potential evil spirits is when she speaks to a couple of them and learns that they are dead because of members of that very gang. She uses her powers to turn these spirits against the living people who wronged them and are quickly eliminated in violent fashion.

The book then takes a step back. In the wake of WWII, we find a young woman floating in the storm-churned ocean off the coast of Kowloon. Mei Chi had lived on an island in harmony with everything, as well as her family, until a massive storm drove them away, resulting in her relocating to Kowloon. It will not take readers long to realize that Mei Chi is Mercy Chan, and her story goes much farther back than what we are being shown at this time.

In 1975, Mercy is confronted by the leader of the organized crime syndicate, a powerful woman named Cobra Lily. It is expected that Mercy use her special powers to protect them and all of Kowloon from the entity that is devouring everything in sight. She is accompanied throughout by her feline familiar, the spirit cat Bao. They face the fact that something has taken over Cobra Lily's body, and it may be the evil presence they have been tasked with defeating.

The backstory of this entity reveals it to be a potential demon sometimes referred to as “the Girl with a Thousand Faces.” At one time she was a woman named Siu Yin, who is far from the villainous creature we have seen previously. In fact, her ultimate predicament is directly tied to Mercy Chan/Mei Chi, and she seeks to avenge the wrong done to her and her family at any cost. It is in the last act of this story, where we see the two central figures as they truly are, that readers finally may discover who the protagonist or antagonist is, if those terms can even apply here.

The images that Sunyi Dean has produced in THE GIRL WITH A THOUSAND FACES will be difficult to forget, and the story is one that resembles nothing you have seen before. She successfully has created a genre uniquely its own with this mesmerizing tale.