The Time Traveler’s Wife meets Crazy Rich Asians in this speculative romance set against Singapore’s tumultuous past. Immersed in Southeast Asian history, time-travel, and an impossible love story, The Light Between Us is perfect for readers of literary historical fiction and modern romantasy fans 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.
The Light Between Us by Elaine Chiew
Elaine Chiew is the author of The Heartsick Diaspora (recommended in the Guardian, The Singapore Straits Times, BookRiot, and Esquire SG) and compiler/editor of Cooked Up: Food Fiction From Around the World.
Her stories have won prizes, notably twice in the Bridport International Short Story Prize, and been anthologised in the U.S., UK and Asia, recently with BBC Radio 4 and in The Best Asian Short Stories 2021).
She mentors, teaches creative writing ad hoc, writes freelance and has worked as an independent researcher in the visual arts. She has an M.A. in Asian Art History from Goldsmiths London. In a former career, she was a U.S. trained attorney with a degree from Stanford and worked in New York, London and Hong Kong. The Light Between Us is her first novel and has been longlisted for the inaugural Cheshire Novel Prize.