We Won an Island

Debut author Charlotte Lo’s entertaining tale of family life on a remote island presents young readers with a perfectly satisfying blend of escapism, humour and wish-fulfilment.  Luna, who tells the story, is the middle child between her elder sister Margot, who longs to build and fly aeroplanes, and her younger brother Fabien, who loves to knit and wants to keep sheep.  Luna’s own wish is to run a donkey sanctuary, so when she reads about an eccentric billionaire’s plan to give away his Scottish island, she sees a chance to achieve her dream, save her family from impending homelessness and make her sad, depressed Dad happy again.  Thanks to Luna’s heartfelt letter and Fabien’s gift of hand-knitted dolphin slippers the island is won and off the family go to a new life complete with ancient boat, bat-ridden house, eccentric neighbours, goats and big storms.

This accomplished first novel is hilarious and heart-warming with comic set pieces, funny dialogue quirky characters, animal antics and secret schemes.  There is a nod to My Family and Other Animals in the scenes of human and animal mayhem, the island setting and the choice of Margot’s name.  The chapters are short and fast-paced as scenes of triumph and disaster follow in quick succession. Happily, family love and community spirit overcome obstacles and all dreams come true in a satisfying story that should have readers laughing throughout.