The Great Reclamation

Extraordinary . . . Every page pulses with mud and magicMiranda Cowley Heller, author of The Paper PalaceAlive to the beauty and mystery of the natural world as well as the human heartJessamine Chan, author of The School for Good MothersWhat a marvellous novelMegha Majumdar, author of A BurningAn intimate love story and an epic historical tale that is sure to be read for years to comeJulie Otsuka, author of The Buddha in the AtticAh Boons story will stay with me for a long timeLara Prescott, author of The Secrets We KeptOn a quiet moonlit night, Ah Boon, young and terrified, takes his first trip out to sea in his fathers fishing boat - a rite of passage for the boys of the kampong. As the air hums and the wind howls across the waves, a mysterious, impossible island materialises in the darkness; an island, bountiful with fish, that Ah Boon soon learns only he has the ability to find.But this is only the beginning of the story, and as Ah Boon grows up, alongside Siok Mei, the spirited girl he has fallen in love with, he finds himself caught in the tragic sweep of Singapores history. When the Japanese army invades, the resistance rises, and their small nation hurtles towards rebirth, the kampong and the impossible islands that surround it are thrown into jeopardy, and the two friends must decide who they will become - and what they are willing to give up.