The Light Between Us by Elaine Chiew - Review and Blog Tour

Hello! Welcome back to my blog for my belated stop on the tour for The Light Between Us by Elaine Chiew. As I explained previously, I didn't get chance to read and review this book before I went away on holiday. I was reading it when I left so it accompanied me on my aeroplane ride and the first couple of days of my holiday, and it was perfect reading for that! I haven't ever read a book like this before so I'm so glad I joined in the tour!

So, in the present day, Charlene, known as Charlie, is living in Singapore. She grew up there but studied in the US. She works as an archivist. Her family is complicated - her dad had three wives before he died. Her mother, his first wife, is also dead. Charlie and her mother lived in London for a while. Her first stepmother is still around and controlling the family fortune as well as the family in general. She has two sons. She also owns the family compound; Charlie lives in a lodge also on the property. Her dad's third wife, Peony, had a son, Sebastian, who Charlie met at university and is now best friends with. They are the outcasts in the family and there's clearly a lot of trauma around their family and their stepmother. 

In 1920, Tian Wei is a photographer in Singapore, although he's from the mainland. He is concerned about his friend, Aiko, who has gone missing. Through some kind of slip in time, his letter appears in a digital folder of Charlie's, and she replies to him. 

They strike up a friendship and then a romance through time. The time isn't linear, though - what is only a couple of days to Charlie is weeks and then months for Tian Wei. I knew the book couldn't end happily but I thought what happened was perfect, it was just such a lovely romance. I liked Charlie a lot and really felt for her - she's an orphan trying to just live her life but her stepmother and her half brothers were just terrible people who seemed to like to make her miserable and to manipulate her. I thought the depiction of modern Singapore was brilliant, showing the difficulties between tradition and modernity. 

Likewise, I like Tian Wei and his world too. Singapore in the 1920s is not something I knew anything about so I liked learning about the place and about the differences between the mainland Chinese people and Singapore nationals. Plus by the end of Tian Wei's story, the Japanese occupation is about to happen which casts a long shadow over his story too. 

The romance is really lovely and believable. I'm so glad I read this and I would definitely read something else by the same author. I'm giving this four out of five. Thank you for having me along!