Enchanted Islands

by Allison Amend

Inspired by the midcentury memoirs of Frances Conway, Enchanted Islands  is the dazzling story of an independent American woman whose path takes her far from her native Minnesota when she and her husband, an undercover intelligence officer, are sent to the Galápagos Islands at the brink of World War II.

Born in Duluth, Minnesota, in 1882 to immigrant parents, Frances Frankowski covets the life of her best friend, Rosalie Mendel, who has everything Fanny could wish for—money, parents who value education, and an effervescent and winning personality. When, at age fifteen, Rosalie decides they should run away to Chicago, Fanny jumps at the chance to escape her unexceptional life. But, within a year, Rosalie commits an unforgivable betrayal, inciting Frances to strike out on her own.

Decades later, the women reconnect in San Francisco and realize how widely their lives have diverged. While Rosalie is a housewife and mother, Frances works as a secretary for the Office of Naval Intelligence. There she is introduced to Ainslie Conway, an intelligence operator ten years her junior. When it’s arranged for Frances and Ainslie to marry and carry out a mission on the Galápagos Islands, the couple’s identities—already hidden from each other—are further buried under their new cover stories. No longer a lonely spinster, Frances is about to begin the most fascinating and intrigue-filled years of her life.

Amid active volcanoes, forbidding wildlife and flora, and unfriendly neighbors, Ainslie and Frances carve out a life for themselves. But the secrets they harbor from their enemies and from each other may be their undoing.

Drawing on the rich history of the early twentieth century and set against a large, colorful canvas, Enchanted Islands boldly examines the complexity of female friendship, the universal pursuit of a place to call home, and the reverberations of secrets we keep from others and from ourselves.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, World War II, Book Club, Historical, Adult Fiction, Literary Fiction

306 pages, Hardcover

First published May 24, 2016

About the author

Allison Amend was born in Chicago on a day when the Cubs beat the Mets 2-0. She attended Stanford University and holds an MFA from the University of Iowa Writers Workshop. Her work has received awards from and appeared in One Story, Black Warrior Review, StoryQuarterly, Bellevue Literary Review, the Atlantic Monthly, Prairie Schooner and Other Voices, among other publications. Her debut short story collection, Things That Pass for Love, was published in October 2008 by OV Books. Visit her on the web at www.allisonamend.com."

Reviews

[Angela M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based on the journals of Frances and Ainslie Conway, this is a fictional portrayal of what has been suspected about their time spent in the Galapagos - that they were spies for the US. I can't judge if that is true or not but I can say that Allison Amend has definitely given us an engaging story . This turned out to be fast reading for me - two days - because I always wanted to know what Frances was doing and where she'd be. There are a amazing descriptions of life on the islands and moving moments in the relationships portrayed here , specifically the Fanny's life long friendship with Rosalie and Fanny's marriage to Ainslie.

This is not a spy novel, but one about the trust and love that is inherent in a wonderful friendship, about forgiveness, love, ambition, longing for something more in one's life, a reflection of the biases of the times about Jews and about sexual orientation.

This review is intentionally brief as I will be participating in the Keep Turning the Pages group discussion. Definitely recommended.

Thanks to Doubleday. I was glad to have won this book in a drawing.

[Elyse Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Emotional page turning intimacy right from the start. Although it starts in Los Gatos, Calif. in a Jewish retirement facility ....( so I knew that was fiction).. We've never had a Jewish retirement facility in Los Gatos. In San Jose, yes.

Frances and Rosalie ordered lox ( smoked salmon) in a diner in Los Gatos...and I knew that, too, was fiction. We've never had anything close to resembling a Jewish diner in Los Gatos.
The synagogue they went to...could 'only' have been my own: "Shir Hadash". It's the only temple in Los Gatos. I've been a member for 37 years....however when this story took place - there wasn't a synagogue in Los Gatos.
So while I was enjoying the two old ladies ( endearing dialogue between the two of them right away)....I was thinking to myself ....
"Wow", given how 'off' the author is about simple basic facts from the start....( can't fool the locals)...I decided to read this entire book as FICTION. And, actually, I did a little research. It turns out the 'spy' story in here 'is' fiction.
I understand France's and Ainslie were real people who lived on the Galápagos Islands: Santiago from 1937 to 1938. Floreana, 1938 to 1941, and again on Santiago in 1946 to 1950.
Frances wrote two memoirs herself "The Enchanted Islands and Return to the Islands, published in 1948, and 1952.
But as an well researched HISTORICAL novel ... I had little faith.
However as a FICTION story, it's an engaging enjoyable read!! I especially loved the narration. Frances is what I call a 'kick-ass-great-woman'. She had balls as a young woman and was still a feisty interesting old geezer.
There is such a 'heavy' situation early in the book with Rosalie...it haunts the reader ( at least it did me), for the rest of the book. I'm reminded of why we have book discussion groups....we get a chance to heal our own thoughts with friends and other readers about topics that are uncomfortable.

.....Author Allison Amend is a gifted *storyteller*....it's her strength! Her characters
are as real as if they were in the same room with you. I think her book would have been more 'enchanting' had she not used real life people as characters to tell her fiction story.

Very little actual time was spent on 'the enchanting islands' - less than half of the book. .....misleading title? I think so. Gorgeous book cover though! Luscious!
I absolutely love the 'fantasy' of the 'title' of this novel ....
But a more accurate title might have been "Frances and Rosalie"... a story of how war
changes them through their childhood friendship to old age.

I saw flaws...AND....I enjoyed the characters....and the storytelling 'anyway'.
Friendships are always of interest to me...they are the heartbeat of life!
Plus ... These ladies are unique and texture....so sure... It's not a perfect novel...
but I liked it -- and want to EAT the frickin cover!!!

4.5 I'm feeling generous by a 1/2 of star. Lol why the hell not!

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

l love the way this novel starts, with Frances and Rosalie as two elderly ladies living in a Jewish retirement facility. An award given to Rosalie for her war works preys on Frances whose own war sacrifices must remain secret. So the reader is taken back in time to when the two ladies were children and first became friends and we learn the story of the Conways.

For me knowing that the characters being written about were actual real people, added special touch. Taken from the journals of Frances we are introduced to Ainslie and hear about their stays during the beginning of WWII on the Galapagos Islands. I really enjoyed reading about their times on the island. Of course this os fiction so why they went there is a matter of supposition though many even at that time thought it was true. Enjoyed the characters, the rather naïve Frances, the survivor Rosalie whom despite a precarious start manages to come out smelling as a rose, as they say. Ainslie, conflicted but kind. Also friendship, a very long lasting one with two women who weathered many storms together.

Well written, well researched about a time past and two people who may not or may have had a small influence during the war. Whether this was true or not they still have an unusual story and I enjoyed reading about it. Also kudos for the beautiful cover.

ARC from publisher.

[Maxwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even large worlds have small islands.

In this novel, we follow a young girl named Frances who is born in 1880's Minnesota as she grows up with her best friend Rosalie. They develop secrets from each other, and from themselves, at a young age. And it is this theme of secrets that ties the whole story together.

Later in life Frances becomes a military spy on the Galapagos Islands with her fake (or is he?) husband, Ainslie. They too have their share of secrets, maritally and militarily, and we read about their time spent in the South Pacific.

This is a great novel. It's strong in character and theme and never lacks interest. While it's not plot-heavy, the settings are expertly described and unique which kept me reading for hours on end. I read this book in two nights. They were two nights in which I couldn't put the book down. I haven't been so lost in a story for quite some time, and I found Frances narrative voice to be frank and relatable.

I think this would be a wonderful book for all kinds of readers--lovers of historical fiction, women's issues, female friendships, WWII novels, and more. It's an engaging, quick read that carries a weight to it that I wasn't quite expecting. And it's definitely one that will stick with me. 4.5 stars

P.s. Here is an article from a 1938 issue of the Milwaukee Journal that talks about Frances & Ainslie's stay on the Galapagos! Very cool.

[Bam cooks the books · Rating 5 out of 5]

*4.5 stars

I won this outstanding book in the Doubleday Keep Turning Pages reading group giveaway. I am grateful for the opportunity to read it hot off the presses! I also won a fun gift box from Chatterbox, promoting the book. Many thanks to the publisher and author!

This work of historical fiction is based on the real-life memoirs of Frances Conway who was sent with her husband to live in the Galapagos Islands by US naval intelligence shortly before WWII--to keep an eye on Germans in the area. It was thought that the islands might be strategic in protecting the shipping lanes of the Panama Canal from attack were the US drawn into war.

There they lived the ultimate life of roughing it for several years with just the basics, making do with what they had on hand until the next ship sails into port, who knows when. But, like Thoreau on Walden Pond, sometimes simplicity is just what one needs to discover what is truly important in life.

What a treat to learn more about the Galapagos, the enchanted islands, a place I've never traveled to before in a book.

#2016-aty-reading-challenge-week-32: historical fiction

[Dorie - Cats&Books :) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was so excited to get an ARC of this book as it sounded intriguing and the cover is stunning! I was not disappointed. The novel is loosely based on the memoirs of Francis Conway. She had a very unique life story to tell.

As the novel opens we are introduced to the young Francis living in Duluth, Minnesota. She always yearned to leave the small town and begin a new life for herself. When her best friend Rosalie decides to run away from home Francis jumps at the chance. The two travel to Chicago and Franny works as a secretary and proof reader for a shipping company. It is while they are living in Chicago that Rosalie and Francis part when Rosalie commits an unforgivable act of betrayal.

Francis next travels to Nebraska where she will work on a farm and eventually finish high school and then college. We follow her through life, job changes, loves and graduation from college which ultimately leads to her moving to San Francisco.

It is in her late 40’s when she is introduced to Ainslie Conway, an operative in Naval Intelligence that she gets the chance to live a very different life on the Galapagos Islands. I won’t give away the plot of this wonderful adventure novel but it is a life that they had to create from the bottom up, having to build their own home and all of the things that they will use on the Island. The intelligence and persistent positive attitude of these two people to do the right thing for their country is incredible.

This is a great book to do additional research on and there are sources listed at the end of the book. I think anyone would enjoy this book which is expertly written, flows quickly and is a memoir, mystery and adventure all rolled into one great read.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a historical fiction portrayal of the journals of Frances and Ainslie Conway. It entails their lives as WWII spies on the Galápagos Islands.
“You’re not allowed to read this—I’m not even really allowed to write it. But now that Ainslie is gone and I will surely follow before too long. I don’t see that much in the harm. I suppose the government will censor what it will.”

Frances also wrote two books about her life there. I was unaware of spies on the Galápagos Islands and found it very interesting. I just loved the descriptions of the islands and the primitive way Frances and Ainslie lived there.

We also learn of Frances childhood and her relationship with her life long friend Rosalie. Frances and Rosalie are friends to the end, but Frances could never reveal her secret life to Rosalie. The beginning of the book brings us to a senior retirement home where Frances and Rosalie live. It was heart warming.

This book was very well written with well developed characters. It is the story of true friendship and secrets.

[Celia · Rating 4 out of 5]

"You're not allowed to read this. I'm not even really allowed to write it."

Now, that's the way to start a book to get me interested.

Enchanted Islands is a fictional narrative based on the memoirs of Frances and Ainslee Conway. The story begins in a Jewish retirement home in the San Francisco area. Frances and her friend Rosalie are old ladies now. We see them at this stage for a few minutes and then Frances begins her story.

Divided into five parts, the story, starting with Part Two, is a real page turner. Part One describes the childhood friendship of Frances and Rosalie. To me it was somewhat predictable: good friends, one of which has a problem. In Part Two, though, Rosalie meets Ainslee and we begin to see why they are together. In Part Three, they set off for the Galapagos. They are sent there as a part of the WWII effort. The daily happenings of a couple living on a sparsely populated island in a structure that has only a roof makes for interesting reading. They are supposed to spend one year there, but for the two of them, it stretches to four. In Part Four, Rosalie goes home to San Francisco, while Ainslee stays to be involved in the building of a military base. In Part Five, Ainslee returns to fetch her back to the Galapagos for a few years, and the story winds down to its conclusion.

I did enjoy the book. Amand's writing is quite good. I do recommend it because 80% of the story is quite engaging and original, at least to me!!

I enjoyed reading the Author's notes at the end where she described part based on fact and that the rest was 'pure invention'. She also admitted to taking some liberties with historical facts.

4 stars

[Olive Fellows (abookolive) · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's some good writing in here, but the story was a hot mess.

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was excited to sign up for Book of the Month because practically all the literary people I follow in social media were doing it. (I admit! I'm a lemming!) It was a beautiful moment getting that first package in the mail because it was in a beautifully lined box and wrapped in plastic and it came with a bookmark and notecard... the entire experience was very lush and satisfying. It helped that the book inside was this one, which I picked because it was set in the Galapagos Islands and the cover is so gorgeous.

In the end I was not overly enchanted with the novel. I really wanted to be. But I kept thinking back to the experience I had reading Euphoria by Lily King - the time period is similar, the isolation on an island is similar, the element of unusual relationships is similar - but while Lily King pulled me into the jungle and never let me go a year later, I feel like a month from now I will hardly remember this one. The islands are described most through the lens of the tasks the couple moving there have to accomplish. There is no strangeness in it, no inherent other, except in their physical bodies. It didn't give me an opportunity to use my imagination, to put myself there, nothing was vivid to me.

I think my somewhat blase response might be a combination of the writing (somewhat plain) and perhaps the author's desire to keep as close to the historical facts as possible. We know that I found myself wanting their lives to be more interesting. Or they were interesting but the spy action that I was expecting largely happened "off stage." I think there is an expectation that the reader would be super shocked by one character's big reveal but since sexual identity is really not a big deal these days it wasn't enough to keep the driving force of the novel afloat for me.

We know of Frances Conway from her historical writings and because the couple was written about in a few national publications, and the idea that they were in that location because they were spies has been hinted at before. I think what I was hoping for was a more passionate telling of this imagined story, and that just isn't what I found. I also wondered about the locals. Where are they? At the beginning there was some information about how using island materials was against the rules but then they never seemed to be in any danger. That seemed like a missed opportunity.

[DeB · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found Enchanted Islands to be less than enchanting, and certainly did not learn much of anything new about the past in the process. The aged Frances Conway, soured by envy of her childhood friend's acknowledged success, begins to reminisce about the life which led her to the Galápagos Islands. An auspicious start to the tale of Frances and best friend Rosalie, daughters of Jewish immigrants and their brave new beginnings at sixteen in New York was exciting. From then on, the pickings became rather slim.

In actuality, Frances and Ainsley Conway were renowned for their back to basics lifestyle on the famed Galápagos Islands, prior to and during WWII. Apparently there had been hints that they were American spies. Frances was fifty-five and Ainsley, forty-four on their unlikely marriage.

The writing felt stilted, dulled perhaps by the mundanities of Frances' petty diaries from those stultifying times on the island, and the early zest in the novel, perhaps of the author's mood alone, was sadly missed. Nothing ever really "happened", although much was agonized over. And the Galapagos- I left them ignorant except from Frances' pragmatic frame of reference - how far to fresh water, to the next neighbour, about wild goats and donkeys, lemon trees and gardens which grew if watered - an author's wasted opportunity to expand on a reader's broad knowledge of this remote and Charles Darwin studied site.

The conflicts were relational, and reported in the same steady tone as were office duties, moving back to San Francisco, taking a lover. In the end, the childhood friends endured.

The book's cover art is quite lovely and inviting, which I admit convinced me to look at the summary. The summary enticed me to read the novel. In a way, the presentation was the best part.
2.0 for the novel which bored me to tears, plus 1.0 for the cover which brings it to 3.00 stars.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Enchanted Islands” is as enchanting a story as the islands it describes. This is a fictionalized account of the journals written by Frances Conway about her life, particularly the years she spent as a spy on the Galapagos Islands. Allison Amend is a brilliant writer. This story completely captured my imagination from page one to the final word. I loved the characters of Frances and Ainslie; their relationship was fascinating. I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys a good story.

[Taryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some descriptions might lead you to believe this book is about a marriage between spies, but really it's about a lifelong friendship shared by two very different women, Frances and Rosalie. The facts that Frances eventually becomes a spy, enters into a marriage arranged by the US government, and lives in the Galapagos Islands for months in primitive conditions are, surprisingly enough, not the most important plot points.

And it works out that Frances and Rosalie's friendship is the axis on which the novel revolves, because the dynamic between them is complicated and constantly changing. Frances is sheltered, naïve, dying to get out on her own and away from her controlling family. Rosalie is more worldly than she should be, with secrets that take Frances years to uncover. As they age, their bond remains steely despite the secrets they keep from each other.

Less interesting, sadly, is the relationship between Frances and her husband, Ainslie. They reminded me of Alma and Ambrose from Elizabeth Gilbert's The Signature of All Things, their fundamental incompatibility an insurmountable hurdle to intimacy. I can't put my finger on why, exactly, but I don't really care to read any more books featuring sexually frustrated perimenopausal women trying to make it with men who aren't into them that way. Oh right, because romance. I need it in my life, man.

With regards to Doubleday Books and NetGalley for the advance copy. On sale today, May 24!

More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com

[Jessica Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not really a spy novel, and for that I am thankful. I honestly wouldn’t have read it if it weren’t a Book of the Month selection, but I’m so glad I gave it a chance, as I found it immensely fulfilling.

It is a novel about spies, yes. But really it reads like a fictionalized memoir of Frances Conway, who at 54 years old entered an arranged marriage with a naval intelligence officer and accompanied him to the Galápagos Islands in the 1930s to figure out why so many Germans were settling down there.

At the heart of the story are two relationships: the peculiar marriage between Frances and her husband, and the friendship between Frances and her lifelong best friend Rosalie, whose lives couldn’t have possibly taken different paths.

Allison Amend has created a beautifully written book that unfolds with such careful nuance and subtlety. It’s slow and it’s character-driven, so if you’re expecting an exciting adventure story, this isn’t it. I would have rated it even higher, honestly, except there were some parts that felt just a little bit too slow. But don’t let that deter you.

This is a book about secrets, but ironically the secrets that the characters keep from themselves and the people they love are far more compelling and potentially destructive than any of the secrets they keep from their enemies. Because even when you’re part of something much bigger than you are, what matters most are the connections you make and the meaning you create in your own small life.

[Candace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frances Frank would never, ever have imagined that her life would take off when she was in her 50's, never imagining that she would be married to a Naval officer more than a decade her junior, living off the land in the Galapagos Islands and doing a little spying in the years before WWII. "Enchanted Islands" is named after the books written by the real Frances Conway who did just that--and more. But this is a novel, and the novelist's skill shines in the creation of the relationships around her and building her life before the Galapagos adventure.

Frances is not brilliant, beautiful, or young. She is someone who has lived a hard and lonely life but she is not afraid to take a quick turn onto the road less traveled by. Her lifelong friendship with Rosalie may be fictional but is no less than Frances deserved and the scenes of the two of them in the retirement home are a treat.

When "Enchanted Islands" is over, you may be able to pick at the holes in the narrative, but while engrossed in Fanny's tale, you'll be too entranced to care.

[Nicole D. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This novel takes some historical context and creates a pretty average story with characters that I couldn't 100% get behind. In fact, they all had some major issue which made them somewhat unlikable.

I'm fascinated by the Galapagos. I thought The Origin by Irving Stone an enthralling book. Sadly, this book spent less than 100 pages on the islands, and there was still very little about the islands themselves. An occasional mention of a bird or tortoise. Beyond that, they could have been on any island, so I feel like the title and the premise of the book was misleading. A better title of this book would have been "The Story of Two Friendships in a Time of War." Because that's really what it was.

It wasn't bad, and it moved quickly, but I honestly didn't care if I finished it. I wasn't invested in anyway.

[Anna Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one was a study in contradictions for me - I didn't go into it really expecting to like it much and I ended up loving it; the main character isn't the personality type that usually appeals to me but I found her endearing. The book seems like two separate tales at times (Frances' past and life with Rosalie in the "real world" vs. her "spy" life with Ainslie in the Galapagos). Oddly enough, this did not bother me: of course the section on the island is the most entertaining, but every part of this story was entertaining for me. I've read some reviews that say there are parts that are slow, but I found myself always eager to keep going - Amend's writing style and storytelling ability really kept me enthralled all the way through. I'd recommend this wholeheartedly.

[Dabney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I burned through this book in just a few days and was so sad when I reached the final page! The author's depiction of the complicated friendship between women, a less than traditional marriage (also complicated), wartime spying, and life on a hardscrabble island kept me enthralled at every moment. More, please!!

[Joy D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story of the ups and downs of a lifetime friendship between two women, Frances and Rosalie. They leave home at age fifteen. Their lives diverge when one betrays the other. The set piece of this novel, which is a fictional portrayal of real people, is the time Frances spends in the Galapagos Islands. The time period is during and after WWII and espionage is involved, but the focus remains on relationships. It contains beautiful descriptions of life on the islands. Themes include ambition to improve one’s life and forgiveness. I found it a satisfying read.

[L Y N N · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot believe I didn't review this! I found this to be an excellent read. Another book regarding how much or little we each know about the other, even those with whom we live and/or choose to share our life. I admired Frances' bravery and courage to legally marry someone she didn't even know and then be launched on a spy mission with that person. And...in the literal "wilds" of the Galapagos Islands! Frances is one of the most pragmatic yet resourceful people ever! It is amazing how she adapts to primitive life in the islands. And yet there is definitely danger! This book gave me yet another POV of WW II. The net of politics is definitely widespread! Even to remote almost uninhabited/uninhabitable islands! What this book said about marriage and marriage relationships was quite unique!

[Karin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely fell in love with this book. Love the main character, love the writing style and voice, love her reflections on intimacy and love and friendship and what it means to participate in a relationship. Instant favorite for me. This book follows the main character from childhood through advanced age, as she enters various relationships, and how those relationships grow and change during her lifetime. She starts in Duluth, MN, and ends up going to many places in her adventurous life. Just a gem of a novel. Hesitant to say more, as the enjoyment of following Frances throughout her life is just so entertaining.

[Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

The [Galapagos] Islands aren't the only "enchanted" thing in Allison Amend's brilliant novel. The prose, the characters, the relationships and emotions... everything about this book is perfect.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author Allison Amend weaves the story of a lifelong friendship between two girls, Frances Frankowski and Rosalie Mendel. Together the girls had run away from their homes to seek better lives in 1882. A scandalous incident drove the two apart, and they didn’t reunite until many decades later. Their lives had taken different directions.

This novel is loosely based on real people whose lives took them from Duluth, Minnesota to Nebraska, California, the Galapagos Islands and back to California. Despite distances that separated them, mysteries and intrigues during World War II, complicated marriages, and secrets that they each had kept, their strong bond remained intact.

[Anne-Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a page turner, I couldn't put it down!
Frances is a character I haven't seen before, a woman whose life really kicks off in her fifties and who is allowed to be flawed, quiet, and to just live with her decisions.
The reflections on friendship, marriage and Amend's fantastic one-liners made this a truly enjoyable read. I didn't want it to end.
This beautifully written novel left me with plenty to ponder, a desire the read Frances' Conway memoirs and to hop it over to the Galapagos and experience Floreana for myself.

[Rincey · Rating 4 out of 5]

See my video review: https://youtu.be/Bcr099DkL0k

[Patti · Rating 3 out of 5]

****3.5 STARS
The major snapshot I took away from this novel was the complexity of human nature. From bizarre wartime behavior to unordinary love, Amend highlighted people who tried to accept circumstances and snatch happiness when it was made available- especially when life deviated from plan.

The story wasn't what I expected from the blurbs and internet chatter. At it's heart, this is a character study. The island setting, while a lush and exotic backdrop, is definitely secondary to the internal personal struggles. I enjoyed the sections talking about the inherent pleasure of working with nature."There is a strange serenity that comes with only having to worry about your basic needs. It makes me think that primitive man might have been better off than we are today." The sense of foreboding on the island due to impending war permeated the narrative too.

I loved the nursing home humor! The story opens on Rosalie and Frances musing on their current surroundings. "The few men in residence are even more decrepit than we old hens. They are cocks of the walk. The younger women mill about, fawning over those toothless skeletons as though they were meat worth catching." Amend was great at creating scenes with wit and humor. I liked that the story was told from present to past, as well as the incorporation of historical facts (such as President Roosevelt's real visit to the Galapagos).

Ironically, the strengths of the novel were also some of the reasons I didn't jive with it. I wanted a little more for some characters. However, if Amend had written this in that fashion, it probably would have set the wrong tone for the characters- especially with their personality quirks. There is an underlying sadness in the story, and it felt realistic.

I also wanted more Galapagos history and description. The writing is fantastic, and the fictionalization of real explorers was an interesting concept indeed. I think this boils down to how much you enjoy hearing about this couple's unconventional life, and fraught female friendships. It's certainly beautiful and different, and I think lots of people will find it a good, solid read.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I could give half stars - I'm somewhere between "I liked it" and "I really liked it". It's the kind of book that you keep reading once you pick it up, but it's not the kind that makes you want to put your own life on hold so you can finish it. I suppose this is because it touches upon the deeper layers rather than mere actions. When reading the blurb, specifically terms like "a dazzling story," I expected a fast-paced story with numerous events following each other fairly quickly, yet Enchanted Islands was something else entirely.

Rather than being fast-paced, Enchanted Islands takes its time to first build the characters, and later to build the scene setting. It does so beautifully - the characters come to life through their words, thoughts, and actions.

Yet for a story that is described as "Amid active volcanoes, forbidding wildlife and flora," I found the descriptions of the setting rather sparse. Especially with such a gorgeously adorned cover, I thought I'd be reading many more descriptions to make the setting of the island come alive as if I were experiencing the rustling of leaves myself. Though descriptions of setting can be arduous to read, if done as beautifully as the characterisation, this could have been a wonderful addition to the book.

Despite that slight disappointment, I think this is a wonderful book, especially if you read between the lines, its biggest asset being the way it examines many different kind of relationships - with others and with oneself. That part of the blurb - "Drawing on the rich history of the early twentieth century and set against a large, colorful canvas, Enchanted Islands boldly examines the complexity of female friendship, the universal pursuit of a place to call home, and the reverberations of secrets we keep from others and from ourselves" - absolutely lives up to all expectations and goes beyond. That's what makes this an interesting and very enjoyable read. I certainly recommend this book to anyone interested in this particular genre!

P.s. This edition is GORGEOUS!

[Kathy Cunningham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Allison Amend’s ENCHANTED ISLANDS is a fictionalization of real-life couple Frances and Ainslie Conway who spent four years living on Floreana in the Galápagos Islands in the years leading up to World War II. What we know of the real Frances and Ainslie comes mostly from two books they wrote about their experiences living off the grid in the tropics. We know that Ainslie worked for Naval Intelligence, and that he and Frances lived on several islands in the Galápagos. But were they really (as Amend suggests) spies? Was their marriage really arranged (a la the couple in the TV series “The Americans”) to provide cover for espionage? And was Frances’s relationship with BFF Rosalie really as dramatically sad as it is here? Amend says she based her novel only on Frances and Ainslie’s birth and death dates and their two books (which are dedicated to Rosalie). “Everything else,” she says, “is pure invention.” Since these are real people, who lived real lives, the “invention” becomes problematic.

The novel is narrated by Frances, who spends the first hundred pages cataloging her childhood in Deluth and her relationship with Rosalie. The two girls become fast friends, but Rosalie has a terrible secret that will eventually drive both of them to flee to Chicago where they try to make lives for themselves. Rosalie wants to be an actress, and it’s clear from the start that she has a natural talent for persuasion and mendacity which comes in handy over the years. Ironically, these are talents Frances herself must master once she begins her life with Ainslie. Of course, I’m talking about the fictional Rosalie, Frances, and Ainslie here. None of this happened to the real people.

While fictional Frances’s early years are carefully developed and detailed, what happens to her over the next three decades is not. Amend zips through her years working as a secretary, teaching in San Francisco, and then eventually working for Naval Intelligence (which is where she meets Ainslie). She is in her fifties when she is offered the chance to go to the Galápagos with a husband she barely knows (one she marries as part of her assignment). And while the title of the novel suggests that most of it will be about those four years on Floreana, that section really amounts to about a third of the book. Frances struggles with the oddities of her arranged marriage (is Ainslie really her husband, or is it all just part of their job?), and with making a life for the two of them without modern comforts and conveniences. It is interesting, but not a whole lot happens. They have neighbors (so to speak), a few of which are Germans who may or may not be spies themselves, but mostly they grow vegetables, watch the sea for ships, and make weekly reports to their bosses back home. And all of it is fiction.

When I first started reading ENCHANTED ISLANDS, I thought it was the true story of two people who ended up spying for the US government in the pre-war years. I didn’t realize that the entire spy story was fiction, as were the many scandalous details about these characters. Things happen to Rosalie that are horrible, and she does things that definitely impact how we see her as a character. Similarly, Ainslie does things that shape his relationship with Frances, things that define him as a character. But Rosalie, Frances, and Ainslie were real people, who led real lives. It’s disturbing that Amend would turn these people into fictional characters with fictional experiences and fictional histories, some of which are salacious and unflattering (to say the least).

Overall, I enjoyed reading ENCHANTED ISLANDS. Frances makes for an interesting narrator, and her life (as created by Amend, at least) is one that is both unusual and fascinating. But it does bother me that Amend has taken real-life people and used them as characters in a totally fictional story. I would have liked this much better had Amend created characters of her own (perhaps “inspired” by the Conways, but not the Conways themselves). As it is, I’m uncomfortable about the story she tells.

[Please note: I was provided a copy of this novel for review; the opinions expressed here are my own.]

[Blaine DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably a 3.5***
Interesting premise. A novel based upon the actual diaries of Frances Frank (her changed name). It is supposed to be a story of her friendship with Rosalie Mendel. The book is a quick read, but not a fast read if that makes sense! It starts so very promisingly with the story beginning at an old age home and Rosalie being honored for the work she did in WW2. Frances is her best friend and also in the old age home and laments that she cannot tell her story and nobody knows wha she did. So she tells us the readers. The book is divided into 5 sections and really sections 1,2 and 5 are fast and fascinating reading. Half of Section 4 is very good also. It is Section 3 that brings this book down in my opinion. This is all the "unknown" story of the time Frances and her husband Ainslee were on the Galapagos Islands prior to WW2, and it is all speculation. The book drags here, so much so that one is tempted to just skip over the flora and fauna descriptions, as well as the attempts to make this a spy novel. I learned a lot about the Galapagos that I had been unaware of, but the entire spy premise is a bit hard to fathom, however plausible it might be. What we do see is a woman (Frances) who has lived an interesting life - not sure it was a good life, but it was interesting. We also see someone who gave up many years of her life to part of a rather unique marriage, move to Galapagos and then move back their again after the war. She was basically a loner and her friend Rosalie is not the most lovable character, but that is also tempered by parts of Rosalie's childhood.
I would recommend this book for a limited group of readers. It is not for everyone, but there are some portions of the book that are highly enjoyable and give us a glimpse into the life of Frances which was certainly unusual and without a doubt interesting.

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I selected this book from my Book of the Month club offerings because of its stunning cover art, to be honest. And I am so very glad I judged this book by its cover! Enchanted Islands is a moving, compelling, and engrossing memoir-style book that is way more about friendships and self-actualization than it is about spy games. As young Frances says in chapter two, "I like books about girls," and this book and its rich and complicated sisterhoods definitely fits that bill. 4.5 stars for this book, rounded up to 5 for the cover art.