'An extraordinary achievement . . . Every page pulses with mud and magic'
Miranda Cowley Heller, author of The Paper Palace

'A monumental epic . . . I was spellbound'
Nathan Harris, author of The Sweetness of Water

'Ah Boon's story will stay with me for a long time'
Lara Prescott, author of The Secrets We Kept

'Alive to the beauty and mystery of the natural world as well as the human heart'
Jessamine Chan, author of The School for Good Mothers

They would look back and ask themselves, what was the moment that changed everything? Could she blame him? Could he blame her?

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. As he grows up, alongside Siok Mei, the spirited girl he has fallen in love with, he finds himself caught in the tragic sweep of Singapore's history. When the Japanese army invades, the resistance rises, and their small nation hurtles towards rebirth, the two friends must decide who they want to become - and what they are willing to give up.

A powerful coming-of-age of both a young boy and a country, The Great Reclamation asks what might happen when the love between two children complicates the fate of an entire community and country, literally shifting the land beneath people's feet.

"A love story about both heart and home" - Time

"An exquisitely written, heartbreakingly beautiful tale of love and war" - Ms. Magazine

"Heng wrings a great deal of emotion from Boon's experiences and relationships . . . skilfully capturing the inner psyche of a Singaporean everyman caught between two immovable worlds. This epic undertaking is not to be missed" - Publishers Weekly, STARRED review

"[A] story scaffolded against a sweeping backdrop - the politics of colonialism, World War II in Southeast Asia, ecology, the inexorable forces of development and modernization - with very little of that ever mentioned, instead focusing on the experiences of the characters in language of perfect simplicity. . . Like a drop of rain that holds the reflection of the world, crystalline and beautiful" - Kirkus, STARRED review

"Heng captures the individual and collective challenges of being human, and explores what a modern country might become after the disruption and displacement of World War II. Every bit of it is a delight" - BookPage, STARRED review