The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Heng, Rachel. The Great Reclamation. Riverhead Books, 2023. Kindle Version.

As the novel opens, Ah Boon, his brother Hia, and their father, Ah Huat, are about to go fishing off the island of Singapore. This is their family trade, but it is the first time that Ah Boon will be going despite the fact that his older brother started fishing at a much younger age. Ah Boon feels ashamed because he does not share the same strengths as his brother and father, strengths that help them survive in their kampong, or village. When they get out on the water, they see an island that has never been there before. It seems as if fish are coming from afar to swim into their net. They go home and do not tell anyone. Ah Huat avoids taking Ah Boon out on the water again, assuming it was his son’s presence that brought the islands into view, until they need money to help cure Uncle of his illness. They go out again, and again they find vast amounts of fish, but they now know it was not Ah Boon who is responsible for bringing the island into sight. Eventually the townspeople find out, and the people of the village thrive because of all of the fish.

The Japanese invade the island during World War II and take power away from the Ang Mohs, the white people. The Japanese require all men of a certain age to register. Uncle convinces Ah Huat to go register, but Ah Huat is killed in the process. Uncle will feel guilt for this for the rest of his life because of this. Eventually Japan is defeated in World War II, and the Ang Mohs return to power.

Ah Boon gets a better education than most people in his kampong. On his first day of primary school, he meets Siok Mei. She lives with her uncle because her parents left her and her siblings to go fight against injustice. Siok Mei has a strong desire to follow in their footsteps and make them proud even though she wears a ribbon of mourning for the death of her father and does not ever see her mother again.

Eventually Siok Mei convinces Ah Boon to go to secondary school where they are instructed in the ways of communism and fight against oppressive labor tactics. One day a demonstration turns into a riot. Ah Boon wants Siok Mei to leave with him, and he tells her that he loves her, but she tells him to leave. She is arrested where a man named Eng Soon pursues her romantically. Despite efforts by Siok Mei and Ah Boon to patch things up, they keep missing each other, and because of this missed communication, they never end up becoming a couple. Siok Mei marries Eng Soon, a partner in her efforts to fight for communism.

Ah Boon gets a job with the Gah Men who run the land. As part of this job, he is supposed to get the people of the kampong to see the Gah Men in a more favorable light. The people come to the community center’s grand opening, and Ah Boon is successful in his work with the Gah Men. Eventually he becomes a part of the government when the government realizes they need Ah Boon’s savvy with the people on their side.

The Gah Men are building large, tall apartments for people to live in. They will even pay the people of the kampong for their land. They do this in the name of progress. Ah Boon decides his family should move to an apartment. HIs mother agrees with him as well as Hia and his family. The homes in the kampong are run down and unsafe. Uncle is quite angry at both the thought of moving and because Ah Boon plans to live in a flat apart from his family. Uncle refuses to leave the kampong.

During all of this, Ah Boon meets Natalie who works at the kampong. She is a Catholic woman whose family has been on the island for centuries. She grew up on her father’s rubber plantation, but she has turned against her upbringing because she knows her father never paid his employees enough money to live on. She sees the employees start the plantation on fire one night and does not notify anybody.

Ah Boon and Natalie slowly develop a relationship, and Ah Boon asks Natalie to marry him. He takes her to the islands to show them to her. They get married, and they move to a home Natalie’s father gives them. She remains adamant that if they are to live there, they will eventually pay him back. She does not want any ties to her father’s money. Eventually Natalie becomes pregnant.

One night Siok Mei comes to Ah Boon because Eng Soon has been taken into custody. Siok Mei hid out while the authorities were at their home in order to keep the baby safe. Ah Boon takes her to the island to keep her safe. Previously Natalie told the Gah Men about the islands without Ah Boon’s permission, and after the raids, Ah Boon is asked about the islands. The Gah Men need the sand on them to continue along with their reclamation. Ah Boon decides to tell the Gah Men about the island if they will grant immunity for Siok Mei. He is about to tell his uncle all of this when his uncle tells him that Siok Mei will never leave Eng Soon for him because she wants her son to have his father in his life. When Ah Boon leaves, Uncle starts his home on fire with him inside it, ending his own life. Because of Siok Mei’s betrayal, Ah Boon brings the Gah Men to the island while Siok Mei is hiding and turns her in. The Gah Men use everything on the island in their reclamation efforts, leaving it in shambles.