logo
Wish List 0 Wish List 0
    • College & University Reads
      • Explore College & University Reads
        • Big Ideas
        • College Success and Career Development
        • Current Events
        • Inspiration
        • Leadership
        • Life Stories
        • NEA Big Reads
        • Religion and Spirituality
        • Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM)
        • Social Justice
        • Spanish Language Editions
        • Young Adult Adaptations

        • BROWSE ALL THEMES
        • BROWSE RESOURCES
    • Community Reads
      • Explore Community Reads
        • Inspiration
        • Leadership
        • Life Stories
        • NEA Big Reads
        • Religion and Spirituality
        • Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM)
        • Social Justice
        • Spanish Language Editions
        • Young Adult Adaptations

        • BROWSE ALL THEMES
        • BROWSE RESOURCES
    • All-School Reads
      • All-School Reads Themes
        • College Readiness and Career Development
        • Inspiration
        • Life Stories
        • Professional Learning
        • Religion and Spirituality
        • Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM)
        • Social Justice
        • Spanish Language Editions
        • Young Adult Adaptations

        • BROWSE ALL THEMES
        • BROWSE RESOURCES
    • News
    • Wish List (0)
      Wish List (0)
Are you still there?
If not, we’ll close this session in:
Download high-resolution image Look inside

The Great Reclamation

A Novel

Author Rachel Heng
Look inside
Large Print
$30.00 US
Diversified | Random House Large Print
On sale Mar 28, 2023 | 608 Pages | 978-0-593-67670-7
Add to cart Add to list Exam Copies
See Additional Formats
  • College & University Reads > Life Stories > Global Perspectives > Asian Voices & Stories
  • About
  • Author
Set against a changing Singapore, a sweeping novel about one boy’s 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 fishing, preferring to spend his days playing with the neighbor girl, Siok Mei. But when he discovers he has the unique ability to locate bountiful, movable islands that no one else can find, he feels a new sense of obligation and possibility—something to offer the community and impress the spirited girl he has come to love.

By the time they are teens, Ah Boon and Siok Mei are caught in the tragic sweep of history: the Japanese army invades, the resistance rises, grief intrudes, and the future of the fishing village is in jeopardy. As the nation hurtles toward rebirth, the two friends, newly empowered, must decide who they want to be, and what they are willing to give up.

An aching love story and powerful coming-of-age that reckons with the legacy of British colonialism, the World War II Japanese occupation, and the pursuit of modernity, The Great Reclamation confronts the wounds of progress, the sacrifices of love, and the difficulty of defining home when nature and nation collide, literally shifting the land beneath people’s feet.
© Juliana Tan
Born and raised in Singapore, Rachel Heng is the author of the novel Suicide Club, translated into ten languages. Her short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Glimmer Train, McSweeney’s, and elsewhere. She received her MFA from the Michener Center for Writers and has received grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and the National Arts Council of Singapore, among others. She is currently an assistant professor of English at Wesleyan University. View titles by Rachel Heng

About

Set against a changing Singapore, a sweeping novel about one boy’s 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 fishing, preferring to spend his days playing with the neighbor girl, Siok Mei. But when he discovers he has the unique ability to locate bountiful, movable islands that no one else can find, he feels a new sense of obligation and possibility—something to offer the community and impress the spirited girl he has come to love.

By the time they are teens, Ah Boon and Siok Mei are caught in the tragic sweep of history: the Japanese army invades, the resistance rises, grief intrudes, and the future of the fishing village is in jeopardy. As the nation hurtles toward rebirth, the two friends, newly empowered, must decide who they want to be, and what they are willing to give up.

An aching love story and powerful coming-of-age that reckons with the legacy of British colonialism, the World War II Japanese occupation, and the pursuit of modernity, The Great Reclamation confronts the wounds of progress, the sacrifices of love, and the difficulty of defining home when nature and nation collide, literally shifting the land beneath people’s feet.

Author

© Juliana Tan
Born and raised in Singapore, Rachel Heng is the author of the novel Suicide Club, translated into ten languages. Her short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Glimmer Train, McSweeney’s, and elsewhere. She received her MFA from the Michener Center for Writers and has received grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and the National Arts Council of Singapore, among others. She is currently an assistant professor of English at Wesleyan University. View titles by Rachel Heng

Additional formats

  • The Great Reclamation
    The Great Reclamation
    A Novel
    Rachel Heng
    978-0-593-42011-9
    Hardcover
  • The Great Reclamation
    The Great Reclamation
    A Novel
    Rachel Heng
    978-0-593-42013-3
    Ebook
  • The Great Reclamation
    The Great Reclamation
    A Novel
    Rachel Heng
    978-0-593-67176-4
    Audiobook Download
  • The Great Reclamation
    The Great Reclamation
    A Novel
    Rachel Heng
    978-0-593-42011-9
    Hardcover
  • The Great Reclamation
    The Great Reclamation
    A Novel
    Rachel Heng
    978-0-593-42013-3
    Ebook
  • The Great Reclamation
    The Great Reclamation
    A Novel
    Rachel Heng
    978-0-593-67176-4
    Audiobook Download
 Stay Connected
Sign up for news about books, authors, and more from Penguin Random House.
Subscribe

Interested In Adopting a Title?

Contact us

About Us

Visit our FAQs


Visit Us

  • penguinrandomhouse.com
  • global.penguinrandomhouse.com

Follow Us

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

© 2023 Penguin Random House

0
  • 0
    • College & University Reads
      • Back to main menu
      • Explore College & University Reads
      • Big Ideas
      • College Success and Career Development
      • Current Events
      • Inspiration
      • Leadership
      • Life Stories
      • NEA Big Reads
      • Religion and Spirituality
      • Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM)
      • Social Justice
      • Spanish Language Editions
      • Young Adult Adaptations
      • BROWSE ALL THEMES
      • BROWSE RESOURCES
    • Community Reads
      • Back to main menu
      • Explore Community Reads
      • Inspiration
      • Leadership
      • Life Stories
      • NEA Big Reads
      • Religion and Spirituality
      • Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM)
      • Social Justice
      • Spanish Language Editions
      • Young Adult Adaptations
      • BROWSE ALL THEMES
      • BROWSE RESOURCES
    • All-School Reads
      • Back to main menu
      • All-School Reads Themes
      • College Readiness and Career Development
      • Inspiration
      • Life Stories
      • Professional Learning
      • Religion and Spirituality
      • Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM)
      • Social Justice
      • Spanish Language Editions
      • Young Adult Adaptations
      • BROWSE ALL THEMES
      • BROWSE RESOURCES
    • News
    Wish List (0)

    /