Still Alive Novels & Stories

Bright and a little breathless, I’ll say it plainly: 'I Am Still Alive' was written by Kate Alice Marshall. She crafted a lean, tense YA survival novel that reads like a howl into the wilderness — equal parts physical danger and emotional reckoning.

I got hooked because Marshall wasn’t trying to romanticize survival; she dug into what it feels like to be young, frightened, and suddenly the only one left to figure things out. From what I’ve read and felt in the book, she was inspired by classic survival stories — think the raw simplicity of 'Hatchet' and the isolation in 'My Side of the Mountain' — but she also wanted to explore grief, loss, and the messy ways people grow up when everything familiar disappears. She did her homework on wilderness details, which makes the setting feel tactile and unforgiving.

Reading it, I kept thinking about how Marshall balances practical survival techniques with emotional honesty. It’s a story about learning to trust your body and your instincts, and also about learning to feel again after trauma. I walked away feeling oddly energized and quietly moved.