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
Rachel Heng Books
January 1, 1988
Rachel Heng is a Singaporean author whose work delves into the complexities of human existence. Her style is marked by a keen insight into themes of identity, memory, and ethical dilemmas. Heng explores profound questions that resonate within the modern world, prompting readers to consider their own values. Her prose is skillful and engaging, establishing her as a distinctive voice in contemporary literature.
Suicide club
- 384 pages
- 14 hours of reading
Lea Kirino is a 'Lifer,' who has the potential to live forever - if she does everything right. She has lived her life by religiously following the state directives that ensure she remains fit and healthy. She knows she wants to live forever, and she is going to green juice, yoga-cise and meditate her way to immortality. Yet, when a brush with death brings her face to face with a mysterious group who believe in everything the state has banned, memories of now-forbidden childhood pleasures resurge alongside ghosts of her past. As Lea's long-held beliefs begin to crack, she is forced to consider: What does it really mean to live?
'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 MothersThey 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.