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F.J. Campbell

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The Islanders Kindle Edition

by F.J. Campbell (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.0 9 ratings

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One girl.
Three boys.

Beautiful, rich, selfish Beth Atkinson is the undisputed queen of her new school and she won’t give that up just to be someone’s girlfriend. Her loyal friend Milo and the intense head boy Edward both try to change her mind, but it’s only when she meets gorgeous, charming Zack that she finally twigs what all the fuss is about.

She’s in so deep with Zack, she can’t see until it’s too late that her careless choices affect everyone around her, wrecking the lives of her friends and propelling them all towards tragedy.

"It has the potential to be a classic" - Matt Rudd, journalist and author

" The Islanders is a fantastic read - a sexy, intelligent, romantic story about the lives and loves of a group of teenagers at a boarding school. It is sure to appeal to fans of E Lockhart." - Sam Mills, author

A young adult novel inspired by Thomas Hardy's classic love story, Far from the Madding Crowd. Readers will adore this beautiful retelling of a timeless coming-of-age story, even if they know what happened to Bathsheba Everdene and her three suitors.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07M7KW7TL
Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 8, 2019
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2434 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 234 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #2,918,562 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #7,402 in Teen & Young Adult Coming of Age Fiction
- #16,192 in Coming of Age Fiction (Kindle Store)
- #37,679 in Coming of Age Fiction (Books)

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4.0 9 ratings

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About the author

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F.J. Campbell

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FJ Campbell is the author of No Number Nine (out March 2018) and The Islanders, inspired by Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd (due 2019).

FJ was born by the seaside, moved around a lot, went to several different schools (long story) and has lived in England, France, Germany and Switzerland.

FJ loves reading: favourite authors include Caitlin Moran, Curtis Sittenfeld, E. Lockhart, Chris Cleave, Liane Moriarty, Colleen Hoover, Thomas Hardy, Margaret Atwood, Jane Austen, Tana French, Kate Atkinson. Favourite books include I Capture the Castle, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Middlesex, A Prayer for Owen Meany, The Rachel Papers, Birdsong, The Power, Barracuda.

S/he loves sport - doing it (a lot) and watching it (a bit) and has been to three Olympic Games.

FJ has been fired only once, from an au pair job.

FJ began writing in 2014, when s/he re-read Far from the Madding Crowd and decided that Bathsheba Everdene was a brilliant, modern, feminist character and had the idea for a 'remake' set in a boarding school in Dorset.

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Jennifer Schmidt

A Great Read!

Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2019

I am a huge fan of FJ Campbell's first book 'No Number Nine' and was very excited to get my hands on her latest 'The Islanders'. FJ did not disappoint! I was extremely fascinated by FJ's description of a boarding school in the 80's. Having gone to a High School in the Midwest of the United States in the same time period, I was amazing how somethings remain the same the world over. Who hasn't had a friend like Beth, unwisely dated a Zach and should have fallen in love with a Milo? FJ cleverly takes the reader back to the 1980's and reminds them of what it was like to be a teenager, to fall in love for the first time and not to mention all the messy bits in-between. It was a fun read and I had a hard time putting it down. I highly recommend this book for teenagers and adults... there is something there for all of us!

Top reviews from other countries

Bill Kupersmith

Great school story in Hardy country.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 13, 2020

Verified Purchase

With The Islanders Fiona Campbell had the clever idea of borrowing her setting from Thomas Hardy. All the place names are from Hardy’s fictional Wessex, which of course have counterparts in real English geography well-catalogued for over a century. The school is called Weatherbury Hall after a village with strong associations with Hardy – the real name is the unprepossessing Puddletown. Our principal characters are four sixth-form students preparing for A-level exams for university entrance. There’s no exact American equivalent, but something like AP courses. The time is autumn 1989 to summer 1990, when Mrs. Thatcher was prime minister and when mobile phones were uncommon. Our central character is a new sixth-form girl, Beth Atkinson, who finds herself the centre of attention amongst the senior boys. The main rivals for Beth’s affections are Edward Markham the son of a cabinet minister who lives on a country estate, and Zack Smythe, a sophisticated Londoner who has already run up an impressive number of conquests, including Edward’s sister Bonnie. But Beth’s most faithful follower is Milo West, the son of the school groundskeeper. Milo’s mother died of cancer and his father has just killed himself, providing Milo with a very modest inheritance, a cottage next to the school bounds. Thanks to Beth, who has the means to decline a scholarship, Milo also enjoys a sixth-form year.

The idea of the son of a groundskeeper at an expensive school brought to mind Joanne Harris’s Gentlemen and Players but fortunately the flavour The Islanders differs toto caelo. Far from being devoured alive with class envy – like too many characters in school stories – Milo is a model of caring and good sense. There are lots of allusions to ’80s culture: one that amused me as a hockey follower was discussion of pop music. Milo enquires about the song Come On Eileen and is informed – ‘in the sticks, it’s brand new … but in London it’s an oldie.’ It’s still played at every University of Iowa field hockey match three decades later. Unfortunately, Weatherbury’s hockey teams get little attention, but in addition to being captain of the rugby team, Milo also plays goalkeeper for the hockey team. The position is appropriate given Milo’s character and background: not glamorous but the last line of defence against a stronger attacking side. His first ‘save’ is the discovery of Beth’s backstory, involving the identity of her parents, which she is eager to keep from everyone at school

The minor characters, including Tom the headmaster and Beth’s roommate Livvy, are well-drawn in detail. There are villains in the novel, but no monsters, unlike the bullies that populate too many bad school stories (bad doing duty for both school and story). The title seems a trifle misleading though. The students refer to their school as the “Island” because they feel remote from the rest of the world. (In fact till I checked my Hardy geography, I thought they might be on the IOW or Portland bill.) Actually, Beth regularly travels by cab or bus to Melchester (i.e. Salisbury), which is her usual home. There are also parties in London and on the beach in Cornwall. But Campbell did well to catch the insular life of a boarding school, and the feeling of inhabiting a private world where close personal relationships, school sports, theatricals, and exams, are the main events in the entire universe. I think that is one of the reasons that for some of us our school days remain so deeply in our memories, however many years have passed since we left. I can imagine a sequel for The Islanders, but it would be a different book. (I greeted Beth’s choice of university with both shock and applause.) The Islanders is not quite in the class with Patrick Gale’s Friendly Fire – my choice for the best of contemporary school stories – but it is very moving and engaging.

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