SPOILERS IN CASE ANYONE IS WORRIED ABOUT BEING SPOILED FOR THIS LONG-FORGOTTEN MODERN GOTHIC.
It turns out that Mai really HAS been dead all along, and her place has been taken by her devoted cousin/secretary/general dogsbody, who bears a familial resemblance but is not (the book carefully assures us) identical to Mai.
Actually the book goes to some length to explain why no one noticed: soon after taking Mai's place, fake!Mai ran away to the Antipodes and became a recluse, and also quarreled with all of Mai's friends by letter (she was already typing many of Mai's letters as part of her secretarial work, so she knew the addresses and could mimic Mai's voice) so no one would try to visit. But right after the real Mai's disappearance, fake!Mai definitely did run into some people who wanted to meet real!Mai who took her for Mai because they didn't know Mai in person and also had perhaps had never met another Thai person.
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It turns out that Mai really HAS been dead all along, and her place has been taken by her devoted cousin/secretary/general dogsbody, who bears a familial resemblance but is not (the book carefully assures us) identical to Mai.
Actually the book goes to some length to explain why no one noticed: soon after taking Mai's place, fake!Mai ran away to the Antipodes and became a recluse, and also quarreled with all of Mai's friends by letter (she was already typing many of Mai's letters as part of her secretarial work, so she knew the addresses and could mimic Mai's voice) so no one would try to visit. But right after the real Mai's disappearance, fake!Mai definitely did run into some people who wanted to meet real!Mai who took her for Mai because they didn't know Mai in person and also had perhaps had never met another Thai person.