Almost a Love Story

by Carissa Foo

Erin is a homemaker who hasn’t read a book in a long time. But that changes when Wendell—now a published author—returns after twelve years. Once, they shared a creative he wrote, she took notes, their closeness defined by the things they never said. But when Erin begins to read his novel—about a professor and his amanuensis—she sees shadows of herself on the page. The more she reads, the more the boundaries between fact and fiction blur. Conversations restart, old wounds reopen and the past reshapes the present in quiet, irreversible ways.

After twelve years abroad, acclaimed novelist Wendell An Ling returns home and reconnects with Erin, once his devoted amanuensis, now married, who has abandoned reading. Their reunion stirs memories of a creative partnership fraught with unspoken tensions, mirrored in Wendell’s latest novel about a professor and his note-taker. As Wendell and Erin navigate their tangled history, the lines between past and fiction blur, revealing a layered exploration of love, power and the fragile boundaries between life and literature.

175 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 27, 2025

About the author

Carissa Foo is a lecturer of writing and literature. She received her Ph.D. in English Studies from Durham University and is currently working at Yale-NUS College in Singapore. Apart from her research interest in modernist women's writing, she also plays the bass guitar and was part of the local band Tuzi, which won the national SuperBand competition and later produced their debut album Hey! When she is not teaching in the university, she teaches conversational English to migrant workers. If It Were Up to Mrs Dada is her first novel.

Reviews

[Isabella Abigail Ow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked how this was a story within a story, and how there was an exploration of different endings. There was a practicality and simplicity to the book, in spite of it also being self-referential and literary at the same time.

[Fern · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overly intellectual and dry. Not my cup of tea.

[pjospoul · Rating 5 out of 5]

crying and pissing and farting that car foo is not more critically acclaimed