The Light Between Us
Neem Tree Press, September 2024

Inspired by her research into Singaporean historical archives, Elaine Chiew weaves Chinese mythology and early 20th-century colonial Singapore into a speculative romance described as “The Time Traveler’s Wife meets Crazy Rich Asians.” Set against Singapore’s tumultuous past, The Light Between Us tells “an impossible love story” about a photography archivist, Charlie Sze-Toh, who receives a misdirected letter from Wang Tian Wei, a 1920s colonial-era Chinese photographer. Through a mysterious digital folder at her end and photographic plates at his, they begin a conversation that leads to a transcendental romance that spans lifetimes.

Praise: “A tender, inventive exploration of diaspora histories, The Light Between Us is a spectral novel in which art joins two star-crossed lovers.” —Foreword Reviews