Olivia: My Life of Exile in Kalaupapa, is a memoir by Hawaii's celebrated leprosy activist Olivia Robello Breitha (1916-2006). The Estate of Olivia Breitha is very pleased to now offer this audiobook version as a richly textured companion piece to the printed work.

Olivia's memoir chronicles her personal and medical history from the age of 18, when she was first diagnosed with leprosy in 1930s Honolulu. Olivia reveals herself as she never felt she could about her more than seven decades of life as Hawai'i Department of Health parolee #3306. She writes with passion of her struggles and, by extension, the struggles of thousands of others, against centuries of stigma and fear. Like them she was the target of cruelty, disdain, and scorned as "lepers". Olivia realized that this hurtful word, like so many others, may never completely disappear from use. She also knew that it is extremely important to understand and expose the historical attitudes that have caused labels like this to be accepted in common parlance for far too long.

Olivia has been gone from here since September 28, 2006. Her lifelong struggle with authority is over. But her mission to restore the rights of people suffering from this long-misunderstood condition continues. She was a complex woman who lived the life that was dealt to her, all 90 years of it. Through her thoughts and words, and the powerful narration of voice actor Deanna Espinas, you will discover how Olivia Robello Breitha met every challenge head on, the small and the immense. Instead of destroying her they transformed this child of Portuguese immigrants into the powerfully eloquent social activist she was always meant to be.