The Light Between Us is a Southeast Asian historical romance that defies time and
space as an archivist explores Singapore’s tumultuous past through a supernatural
connection.
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.
Elaine Chiew is a writer, editor, creative writing teacher/mentor, and visual arts
researcher. Her debut novel The Light Between Us (Neem Tree Press), long listed
for the inaugural Cheshire Novel Prize, will be out May 16, 2024.
Her short story collection The Heartsick Diaspora (Penguin SEA 2019 & Myriad
Editions UK 2020) explores the Malaysian and Singaporean Chinese diaspora living
primarily in London, New York, and Singapore; it has been mentioned as a
recommended read in The Guardian, The Straits Times Singapore, BookRiot and
Esquire SG, been featured in literary festivals in Singapore, Malaysia and Kerala, received a Special Mention in the UK Saboteur Awards, and reviewed favourably in Malaysia, Singapore, UK and US.
She is also the compiler/editor of Cooked Up: Food Fiction From Around the World
(New Internationalist, 2015).
Twice winner of the Bridport Short Story Competition in the UK, she has had
numerous stories published in Singapore, US and UK anthologies, most recently
with BBC Radio Four.
Originally from Ipoh, Malaysia, she has a J.D. from Stanford Law School and was a corporate securities lawyer working in New York, Hong Kong and London. In 2017, she received an MA in Asian Art History from Goldsmiths, University of London. She is based in London. You can find her on X @ChiewElaine
and IG @epchiew.
My thoughts: In the archives of a Singapore gallery, Charlie catalogues photographs, finding on her screen one day a strange letter, she can’t work out what it’s doing there, but intrigued she saves it for later. After another appears, she decides, despite the fact it seems to come from another age, to write back. And so begins a rather unusual love story.
Charlie and her new pen pal, a 1920s photographer called Tian Wei, share the details of their lives – Tian Wei is searching for a young Japanese woman he considers his sister, she’s vanished and no one seems bothered. In modern Singapore Charlie is struggling with her family relationships, her stepmother is something of a nightmare, her half brothers not kind and she’s closest to her adopted brother Sebastian.
Sebastian’s business and romantic relationship are on the outs, and he vanishes for a time. But Charlie and Tian Wei sustain each other through their crises via their letters.
It’s a beautiful quantum entanglement, their letters, and later photos, reaching back and forth in time. But when Charlie crosses a line, things change in her time, and political changes in Tian Wei’s put him in danger.
It’s hard to define this book, part romance, part science fiction, part mystery, and it took me a while to like Charlie – she keeps all of her emotions very tightly bound, letting no one in. Tian Wei is much more open, there’s a joy and lightness to him for much of the book, despite his worries about Aiko, despite the political turmoil.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 