The Great Reclamation

Set against a changing Singapore,a sweeping novel about one boyΓÇÖs unique gifts and the childhood love that will complicate the fate of his community and country Ah Boon is born into a fishing village amid the heat and beauty of twentieth-century coastal Singapore in the waning years of British rule. He is a gentle boy who is not much interested in fishingpreferring to spend his days playing with the neighbor girlSiok Mei. But when he discovers he has the unique ability to locate bountifulmovable islands that no one else can findhe feels a new sense of obligation and possibilityΓÇösomething to offer the community and impress the spirited girl he has come to love. By the time they are teensAh Boon and Siok Mei are caught in the tragic sweep of history: the Japanese army invadesthe resistance risesgrief intrudesand the future of the fishing village is in jeopardy. As the nation hurtles toward rebirththe two friendsnewly empoweredmust decide who they want to beand what they are willing to give up. An aching love story and powerful coming-of-age that reckons with the legacy of British colonialismthe World War II Japanese occupationand the pursuit of modernityThe Great Reclamation confronts the wounds of progressthe sacrifices of loveand the difficulty of defining home when nature and nation collideliterally shifting the land beneath peopleΓÇÖs feet.