The Island - Softcover

Olivia Levez divides her time between teaching English and binge-writing in her caravan by the sea. Olivia likes hula-hooping, yoga and real ale, but not at the same time. She lives in Worcestershire with her husband, two sons and her real-life dog, Basil.

"Levez’s debut captures the emotional journey of 16-year-old Frances Stanton, one of a plane full of British juvenile delinquents and camp staffers headed to a skills-based intervention on an Indonesian island. When the plane crashes, Frances reaches a deserted island with few supplies, where she struggles to find food, water, and shelter among sharks and poisonous plants. With a dog as her only companion, Frances faces painful memories of her family back home, including her ill mother, her half-brother, and her mother’s lecherous boyfriend. Through short chapters, Levez effortlessly balances Frances’s past, present, and imagined future, including vivid flashbacks of her home life and acts of retaliation against a well-meaning teacher.... Echoing O’Dell’s Island of the Blue Dolphins, Levez’s story will keep readers riveted as determined, hard-edged Frances fights to survive."
STARRED Review, Publishers Weekly

A teen struggles against both nature and her own past experiences in a reflective survival tale.... Not all readers will embrace this novel's haunting, open-ended conclusion, but those who do will find much to appreciate and discuss."
Kirkus Reviews

This is one book that should be on everyone’s radar. Fast-paced and incredibly written, readers will be
captivated by Fran and her desire to just survive.”
YA Books Central

"With a huge debt to Robinson Crusoe and the film Cast Away, this ambitious story stars troubled teenager Frances, whose nurturing love for her younger brother drives her to imagine escaping their abusive, dysfunctional home."
The Daily Mail

"The survival novel has a long history from Defoe to Morpurgo and Martel. Here, Olivia Levez in her debut takes familiar ingredients but through the medium of her feisty, contemporary main protagonist gives them fresh vigour. Fran is a very recognisable teenager; rebellious, intractable, unlikeable - but a survivor; she is a girl determined to beat life at its own terms whether in the city or on a deserted tropical island. And this island is as much of a character as Fran, a beguiling paradise - and a hostile battleground. Levez does not make the mistake of providing Fran with everything she needs; survival is a harsh battle. However, the reader is in no doubt that Fran can be her own worst enemy, but it is also clear that determination and imagination are all important. This would not be a teen novel without romance. And here it comes in the form of the gorgeous Rufus. Then Levez adds a twist that is both unexpected, contemporary and satisfying.

"This right-of-passage story has a vigour that will grip the reader from the first page and carries on to the last. Told by Fran as she faces present dangers while remembering the circumstances leading this point, the narrative has a powerful immediacy. It will not be easy to forget Fran, and Olivia Levez is a talent to watch."
Books for Keeps: The Children's Book Magazine Online

"Readers will root for the characters' survival.... A page-turner."
School Library Journal

"Written in short chapters with flashbacks describing how Frances turned into a 'monster,' readers will dislike Frances at first but grow to love her as she discovers who she is and learns from her mistakes. If she makes it home, she’ll be forever changed for the better. Recommend this one to teens who enjoy survival stories."
Booklist