The Eighth Girl: A Novel

Written by Maxine Mei-Fung Chung

Narrated by Jo Mei and Frazer Douglas

Optioned by Netflix and a most anticipated book of 2020 from The Rumpus, Electric Literature, and LitHub.

""The Eighth Girl is an exquisite exploration of childhood trauma and its impact on the psyche. Part thriller, part character study, I devoured this novel in one sitting, reflecting on each sentence, each passage, and each astute observation of humanity. A true gem!"" — Wendy Walker, bestselling author of The Night Before

In this unsettling, seductive psychological thriller, a young woman with multiple personalities is drawn into London’s hellish underworld when she becomes entangled with a man who has an abominable secret, for fans of Caroline Kepnes and Clare Mackintosh.

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?

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Mar 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9780062987679

Maxine Mei-Fung Chung

Maxine Mei-Fung Chun > is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist and clinical supervisor. Trained in the arts, she worked as a Creative Director for ten years at Condé Nast, The Sunday Times and The Times. She lives in London with her son. The Eighth Girl is her first novel.

Reviews for The Eighth Girl

[Syndria Mecham · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Complex, takes your full attention, real in the confusion
and frustration that translates from text to reader /listener
(I recommend listening) It's a book that demands openness and participation with it. I feel it is worth the effort.

[hes7 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Maxine Mei-Fung Chung’s The Eighth Girl features Alexa Wú, a woman struggling with multiple personalities (stemming from years of childhood abuse). As the drama and stress in her life heighten, she begins losing control over herself—which, of course, makes her life all the more complicated.This book had so much potential to be great, yet it failed to be the psychological thriller I expected. The plot holds little thrill or surprise, unfortunately. The focus, instead, proves to be simply the psychology of Alexa’s character, which while quite interesting, did not give enough to the story for me to be intrigued. The Eighth Girl just was not a book for me.I received a complimentary copy of this book and the opportunity to provide an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review, and all the opinions I have expressed are my own.

[lea.pearl · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The Eighth Girl is a story of a girl named Alexa Wu who has DID, Dissociative Identity Disorder. This book is a harsh look at the reality of mental illness, it's blunt and straightforward. Maxine doesn't skirt around details. I feel, as someone who battles mental illness herself, this novel is a welcome addition to the book world.The story is told from two points of view, Alexa's and her psychiatrist, Daniel's. It's confusing. Getting into the characters and learning each of Alexa's personas, "the flock", is a challenge. To be completely honest, I have no idea why Daniel's view is necessary, but seeing Alexa's therapy sessions through his eyes is... different and semi-intriguing.Unfortunately, I couldn't completely grasp the novel. I'm saddened by this fact, and had to give up on it at page 100. Where's the thrill? I got no suspense or thrill from any of those pages, just a lot of dragging, confusing story. This novel had so much potential that it just didn't quite live up to for me.