Inspired by Edward Bulwer-Lytton's 1834 novel The Last Days of Pompeii and the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa, the sixteen-chapter book centres on two families in 1920s Batam that are unknowingly tied together by siblings who were separated in 1883.

First published as a serial in Kwee's magazine Panorama between 7 April and 22 December 1928, Drama dari Krakatau was written over a period of two months after the author was asked to prepare a "sensational"[1] story for a film.

Moelia, the son of the Regent of Rangkas Gombong and Assistant Wedana of Sindanglaut,[b] hears of a Baduy priest, Noesa Brama, who is curing the sick and injured.

[c][2] Upon returning home, Moelia realises that Noesa Brama must be the last male descendant of the Hindu kings of Pajajaran, and that both Retna Sari and her mother bear a striking resemblance to his own grandmother.

The priest returns home to find that his wife and daughter have gone – seemingly willingly – with the men from Palembang, while Moelia takes a steamboat and chases the kidnappers.

Unknown to them, Noesa Brama – enraged at the thought of his daughter marrying a commoner – has deliberately destroyed this statue by throwing it down a well, causing the eruption which stopped the fugitives.

The priest accepts the proposal, but expresses regret over the destruction of the statue after he discovers that Retna Sari and Soerijati had not gone willingly with the men from Palembang.

He weds Moelia and Retna Sari and has them promise that their first son will be raised a Hindu and become king of the Baduy; he then surrenders all his power to his daughter.

Further elements of the story were inspired by the mountain-dwelling Baduy, a group which tended to avoid outsiders and claimed to be descended from the Hindu kings of Pajajaran.

[8] Kwee thought himself a realist, considering it "better to say things as they are, than to create events out of nothing, which although perhaps more entertaining and satisfying to viewers or readers, are falsehoods and lies, going against the truth.

[10] Hoping to keep his story grounded in reality, Kwee researched the history of the Baduy, the geological formation of Krakatoa, and the events of 1883 and 1928; in total he consulted 15 books, all in English or Dutch.

[14] Although Kwee was a staunch supporter of realism in literature, Drama dari Krakatau includes a degree of mysticism, as evidenced by the apparent connection between the statue in the cave and the eruption of Krakatoa.

The Indonesian literary critic Jakob Sumardjo finds the mystical elements (and the fact that no Hindu-era statues with inscriptions have been found) detract from the overall value of the novel.

[20] As with many stories with predominantly indigenous casts, Drama dari Krakatau is set in a rural area, far from the cities where the ethnic Chinese populace were concentrated.

[22] She writes that the panoramic views of the archipelago "help the readers to imagine the geography of a nation yet to be united",[20] whereas the "impersonation" presents a "region of theosophy where religious difference is unified in the belief of goodness.

[14] A new printing, adopting the 1972 spelling reform, was included in the second volume of Kesastraan Melayu Tionghoa dan Kebangsaan Indonesia, an anthology of Chinese Malay literature.

This volume also included Kwee's novella Roema Sekola jang Saja Impiken (The Schoolhouse of My Dreams; 1925) and the novel Boenga Roos dari Tjikembang (The Rose of Cikembang; 1927).