LoveReading Says
LoveReading Says
An emotionally astute and provocative speculative romance set in Singapore detailing the connection between a photographer from the 1920’s, and a modern day archivist. Two people separated by decades begin a conversation and fall in love. Author Elaine Chiew’s debut The Heartsick Diaspora contained thought-provoking short stories highlighting what it is to be an expatriate or migrant in different countries around the world. She was born in Malaysia, and has lived in the US, UK, and is now based in Singapore. In the Light Between Us she spins a number of plates with aplomb, focusing on the intimate connection, delving into history, featuring the nature of displacement and of the occupation of lands, examining what it is to be family, and exploring a sense of time travel. While a number of themes swirl through the pages, there is a cohesion, a sense of connectivity from beginning to end. The element of fantasy is handled beautifully, it feels extraordinary but authentic and touchable. A huge amount of research has obviously been completed, and the author explains her fascination in this time in history at the end. Both heartfelt and poignant The Light Between Us is a captivating and intriguingly different relationship story.
Liz Robinson
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The Light Between Us Synopsis
The Time Traveler's Wife meets Crazy Rich Asians in this Southeast Asian historical romance that defies time and space as an archivist explores Singapore's tumultuous past through a supernatural connection. Perfect for readers of historical fiction and romantasy lovers alike.
At work one night, photography archivist Charlie Sze-Toh receives a misdirected letter from Wang Tian Wei, a 1920s colonial era Chinese photographer. Through a mysterious digital folder and photographic plates, a conversation is sparked, leading to a romance that spans lifetimes.
In his time, Tian Wei scours a turbulent Singapore for his missing friend, Aiko, leading him to the perfumed chambers of a Japanese brothel. Meanwhile, in the modern day, Charlie struggles against a family dynamic dominated by her stepmother, a manipulative matriarch who uses family secrets as bargaining chips. Communication starts to become difficult and Tian Wei’s letters are tinged by the increasing threat of Japanese Occupation. Will one last fate-defying letter from Charlie allow Tian Wei to keep their love alive?
Inspired by her research into Singaporean historical archives, Elaine Chiew weaves Chinese mythology and early 20th century colonial Singapore into this speculative epic.
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Press Reviews
Elaine Chiew Press Reviews
"a love story, a meditation on photography, an elegant historical fiction, and a gripping tale that enchanted me to the very last page."—MELISSA FU, author of Peach Blossom Spring
"Interrogating the honesty and possibility of photographs, Chiew masterfully entangles a love transcending time and space with speculative finesse. Like the letters within the novel, these pages manifest the past and present—not just mere words, not mere image but a sensory cornucopia that one can step inside to interrogate heart and truth, colonial past as well as the ghosts of colonialism that remain in the same streets and buildings, which now carry different names. A genre-defying, labyrinthine, and luscious novel that pulls no philosophical punches as it dares to thrill."—Sequoia Nagamatsu, author of How High We Go in the Dark
"The Light Between Us is an intricate, richly layered and meticulously researched historical detective story set in pre-WWII Singapore. It’s a stunningly ambitious novel, blending fictional characters and events with historical figures and factual landmarks. Simultaneously lush and ghostly, Chiew’s writing is visually attentive and alert to power structures governing not only the colonial era but our modern age. The cultural and sexual oppression of women is one of the novel’s concerns and enquiries. Chiew's skill and enthusiasm as both a food writer and a visual researcher/cultural critic are evident – in The Light Between Us an entertainingly entangled plot and sympathetic characters allow readers lively and populated access to her insights."—Hannah Vincent, award-winning playwright and author of The Weaning
"This is an engrossing tale of bittersweet love and longing simultaneously straddling two eras in Singapore: a young archivist and her adoptive brother in the present-day city and a photographer in colonial times. The separate worlds of Cantonese photographers and Japanese soldiers orbit over the Internet when the photographer mysteriously appears on the archivist's computer screen, luring her into a celestial realm in her basement office. Told through archived photographs, Chiew immerses the reader in old Singapore and the harrowing years of the Japanese Occupation while moving seamlessly into the lives of a wealthy family led by a devious matriarch. Meticulously researched and richly crafted, The Light Between Us dances elegantly between truths and lies, promises and threats, and between a sweet dream and harsh reality."—Mahita Vas, author of Rain Tree
Author
About Elaine Chiew
Elaine Chiew edited and contributed to Cooked Up: Food Fiction From Around the World (New Internationalist, 2015). She contributed to One World: A Global Anthology of Short Stories (New Internationalist 2009), adopted on scores of modern literature courses. She is twice winner of the Bridport Short Story Competition, and her stories have appeared in numerous anthologies in the UK, US and Singapore. Originally from Malaysia, she graduated from Stanford Law School and worked as a lawyer in New York and Hong Kong before moving to the UK to study at Goldsmiths, University of London. She lives in Singapore.
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