The Island
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- £3.99
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- £3.99
Publisher Description
‘There were friends once, but they melted away. Things are different now I am a MONSTER’
Frances is alone. Cast away on a small island in the middle of the Indian Ocean, she has to find water, food and shelter. But survival is hard. Especially when she is haunted by memories of the things that she did before, the things that made her a monster. Pushed to the limit in extreme conditions, she battles to come to terms with her past, and find a future worth fighting for.
This is a gripping and thought-provoking story about one girl’s journey to become the person she believes she can be.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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. After a storm hits, Frances meets another survivor, Rufus, whose prescriptive habits cause friction. Their relationship moves from rocky to companionable, but when food runs low and Rufus lands in a dire situation, Frances must find a way off the island to save her newfound friend. Echoing O'Dell's Island of the Blue Dolphins, Levez's story will keep readers riveted as determined, hard-edged Frances fights to survive. Ages 13 up.
