Book Review: The Light Between Us by Elaine Chiew

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?

GENRE: Historical Fiction / Literary Fiction

PURCHASE LINK: Amazon

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 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.

Review

The Time Traveler's Wife meets Crazy Rich Asians is a solid comp for this book, but probably not in the way you think. This has the literary writing and the bittersweet love story (yes, love story, not a romance for those hung up on genre definitions) of The Time Traveler's Wife and the family drama of Crazy Rich Asians — but make it historical. Charlie's part of the story is set in recent times, that's true, but most of her and her family's issues are rooted in the past; add a writing style that's introspective, philosophical and character-centered, plus entire letters. Oh, and the fantastical elements of the film The Lake House too.

There's a lot of introspection about photography, love, identity, and relationships. There's talk of things from quantum entanglement to Chinese folklore to being part of a diaspora to the life during the colonial era and the world wars. Through all that is a story of two people who find themselves connected across space and time.

Here are some lines that I bookmarked, as I found them incredibly beautiful and moving:

• This, though, is the predicament of orphans: we want to be loved so badly that we are afraid of our hunger. And so, we draw lines. Lines become fences. Fences provide an emotional husk of protection. Nobody comes in, nobody goes out.
• This is what separation is: a kaleidoscope of emotions from bending one's soul towards that special person on different shores—he in his world, she is in hers, without hope of intersecting, of their feelings being shared. All they have are letters.
• Love is selfish. Love has unintended consequences. Is joy forever thus, half-blighted by guilt and pain?
• The moment after the discovery of the heart's desire is a threshold. Full of infinite possibility. Immediately after a decision is made, the possibilities narrow; that which is accepted becomes fact, that which is refuted falls away and is no more.
• Like a photograph and its negative, the war is won when the truth is blended with a lie. Love is also sin, beauty is also horror, happiness is also tragedy. Why did we ever believe otherwise?

If you like historical fiction or literary fiction or bittersweet love stories grounded in historical events, this might be the perfect book to get lost in!

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️️⭐️️

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Hi! I'm Marie, a Filipino SFFH author and book reviewer currently based in the UK. I’m the co-author of The Prophecies of Ragnarok, a Norse myth new adult urban fantasy trilogy, and I also have several short stories published in anthologies and literary journals.

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If you fancy a short read, I have a cozy reimagining of the Norse myths about Hel, but it's just under 70 pages and can be read in one sitting. ✨ Plus there's a swag kit coming soon! Includes a "membership card," a bookmark, a sticker, an origami dog, and an exclusive 500-word story 🫶🏼

All things end, and all must die.

But death is not always the end.

When Geiravor Lokisdottir was stripped of her name and cast out of Asgard, torn from her family and the life she had known, she thought she’d lost it all. But in the shadows of Niflheim she discovers the path to her destiny, and what it truly means to be queen.

This is a prequel short story to THE PROPHECIES OF RAGNAROK trilogy by Meri Benson and Marie Sinadjan, and a retelling of the myths involving Hel, the Norse goddess of death and the queen of the underworld.