-
Look inside the book | Get the e-book
The stories in Agnes Chew’s first fiction collection illuminate the complexity of choice when duty and desire collide, and what a person is willing to sacrifice. A daughter grapples with an unexpected discovery in the aftermath of her mother’s death. A husband struggles to understand his wife’s reaction to her pregnancy. An adolescent and a domestic worker exchange secrets whose weight they find they cannot bear. And in a corner of Changi Airport, a nondescript office cubicle, a patch of open forest, others strive to find meaning and home.
-
“These heartfelt stories bear the familiar tropes of our island city life—our ubiquitous airport, the unspoken impact of urban development, class difference, corporate pragmatism, foreign labour, climate change—and are keenly drawn with an unpretentious, empathetic eye.”
— Cyril Wong, multi-award-winning author of This Side of Heaven
“Richly atmospheric, Eternal Summer of My Homeland hums with buried grief and secret wonder. Moment by moment, Chew deftly interweaves these keenly observed portraits of Singapore with the luminous interiors of her characters’ hearts. This is a collection to savour.”
— Inez Tan, bestselling author of This Is Where I Won’t Be Alone
“Stories of gentle nuance and emotional sensitivity…a delight.”
— Melissa De Silva, Singapore Literature Prize-winning author of 'Others' Is Not a Race
-
Agnes Chew is the author of The Desire for Elsewhere (2016). Her work has appeared in Necessary Fiction, Litbreak Magazine and NonBinary Review, among others, and her story, “Oceans Away from My Homeland”, was the Asian winner for the 2023 Commonwealth Short Story Prize.
She holds a Master’s degree in international development from the London School of Economics; her prize-winning dissertation, which examines inequality and societal well-being in Singapore, was featured in Singapore Policy Journal.
Born and raised in Singapore, she is currently based in Germany.
