Dubai, UAE: Dubai-based publisher, The Dreamwork Collective, has launched a powerful new novel confronting the complexities of adult friendship against the backdrop of childhood trauma. Written by acclaimed author, Safinah Danish Elahi, Chasing Shadows in Borrowed Light, explores how the past can continue to shape lives, long after relationships have moved on.
Safinah will be in Dubai, UAE for the official launch on April 19th, 2026 at 4.00 PM Gulf Standard Time at the Dubai International Writers’ Center. For registration, click on this link.
Centred around four friends – Saira, Areen, Ashar, and Usman – the story uncovers how a shattered childhood innocence leads to devastating consequences in later life. United in their youthful dreams of leaving Pakistan behind to build new lives elsewhere, the friends instead become bound by a shocking secret and ultimately scatter across continents to outrun the consequences of their actions.
As the story evolves, the group is drawn back together when danger emerges once more, and the friends are forced to face their shared history and fractured relationships in the context of adulthood. Navigating guilt, love, loyalty, and the limits of friendship, the storytelling shifts from third person to a striking second-person conclusion, culminating in a haunting search for emotional escape.
Chasing Shadows in Borrowed Light is Safinah’s third novel and marks a bold move to tackle topics like childhood trauma, abuse, mental fragility, and suicide, which are often left unspoken in South Asian societies. Through the novel’s complex characters, Safinah abandons self-censorship to addresses longstanding taboos, which she believes can no longer be ignored in a modern society facing increasingly complex challenges.
Speaking about the inspiration behind the book, Safinah said, “The story grew out of reflections on personal experiences and the realities of modern life; how friendships evolve as people move away, build careers and start families. It asks difficult questions about how much we owe each other as friends. Is friendship a lifelong responsibility and what happens when people grow in different directions? It also explores the paradox of human existence where one can be surrounded by people and yet feel profoundly alone.”
The story offers multiple layers of connection for readers aged from their early twenties into their forties. From the intensity of young friendships to the realities of adulthood, distance, and changing social circles, the novel serves as a mirror to contemporary life, encouraging reflection on why many feel increasingly disconnected despite constant connectivity.
An accomplished novelist and poet, alongside her professional practice in law, Safinah is the author of several works, including the poetry collection The Unbridled Romance of Love and Pain. Her novel Eye on the Prize was adapted into the television series Dauur, while her previous book, The Idle Stance of the Tippler Pigeon, was launched in the UK by Neem Tree Press and shortlisted for the Asian Fiction Prize 2023. This latest novel, Chasing Shadows in Borrowed Light, will is available now at The Dreamwork Collective.
About The Dreamwork Collective
Founded by creatives, for creatives, The Dreamwork Collective is a proud women-founded and run, author-centric publishing house, sharing diverse stories and powerful voices with the world. We publish books, courses and free resources to ignite your creativity and expand your consciousness. Dedicated to making sure that no story goes untold, we are driven to make today’s knowledge, wisdom and stories accessible to everyone and for many generations to come.
