wp-1584211366233.jpgWelcome to my stop on the The Eighth Girl blog tour sponsored by TLC Book Tours! Thanks to TLC for the invitation!

About the Book:

One woman, multiple personas.

But which one is telling the truth?

Beautiful. Damaged. Destructive. Meet Alexa Wú, a brilliant yet darkly self-aware young woman whose chaotic life is manipulated and controlled by a series of alternate personalities. Only three people know about their existence: her shrink Daniel; her stepmother Anna; and her enigmatic best friend Ella. The perfect trio of trust.

When Ella gets a job at a high-end gentleman’s club, she catches the attention of its shark-like owner and is gradually drawn into his inner circle. As Alexa’s world becomes intimately entangled with Ella’s, she soon finds herself the unwitting keeper of a nightmarish secret. With no one to turn to and lives at stake, she follows Ella into London’s cruel underbelly on a daring rescue mission. Threatened and vulnerable, Alexa will discover whether her multiple personalities are her greatest asset, or her most dangerous obstacle.

Electrifying and breathlessly compulsive, The Eighth Girl is an omnivorous examination of life with mental illness and the acute trauma of life in a misogynist world. With bingeable prose and a clinician’s expertise, Chung’s psychological debut deftly navigates the swirling confluence of identity, innocence, and the impossible fracturing weights that young women are forced to carry, causing us to question: Does the truth lead to self-discovery, or self-destruction?

My Thoughts:

Alexa Wu has had a challenging life. On top of it, she has been diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder, causing her to possess several personalities who are often in conflict with each other.

Alexa only trusts three people with her diagnosis. Her therapist, her stepmother, and her best friend.

Ella, her best friend, gets a job at a fancy gentleman’s club. While working there, she is exposed to the darkness of London, and Alexa is drawn in, too.

I’m picky about books involving mental health, and here, I feel like the author’s background in therapy made this account authentic to those who have experienced trauma.

To me, The Eighth Girl is more of a psychological character study with mystery, rather than a thriller, and I loved piecing together the bits of details and analyzing what was happening and what might happen.

I received a gifted copy. All opinions are my own.

About the Author:

Maxine Mei-Fung Chung is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist, clinical supervisor, and training psychotherapist.

She lectures on trauma, gender and sexuality, clinical dissociation, and attachment theory at the Bowlby Centre and was awarded the Jafar Kareem Bursary for her work supporting people from ethnic minorities experiencing isolation and mental health problems.

Originally trained in the arts, she previously worked as a creative director for ten years at Condé Nast, The Sunday Times, and The Times (London).

Maxine completed the Faber Academy advanced novel-writing course and currently works in private practice, where she has a particular interest in the creative feminine, advocating for women and girls finding a voice. She lives in London with her son. The Eighth Girl is her debut novel.

Have you read The Eighth Girl, or is it on your TBR? Happy Reading! ~ Jennifer THR