In a poverty-stricken village, a young boy’s future is revealed by a fortune-teller: a path of unfathomable greatness and endless honour, a far-cry from his harsh existence. By morning, the child is dead. All that remains is his younger sister, her wits, and an unimaginable plan; to take on her brother’s identity, and live out his destiny as her own.

 

    She Who Became the Sun is Shelley Parker-Chan’s love letter to East-Asian TV dramas, particularly those based on Chinese history. She re-imagines the ascension of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, through a queer and feminist lens, and cunningly integrates historical fact and with her own vivid storytelling. A sequel, He Who Drowned the World, completes the duology.