Enchanted Islands

I enjoyed Allison Amend's creative and elegant novel. Her story is based on the real-life memoirs of Frances Conway, who spent the years surrounding World War II living with her husband Ainslie in the inhospitable and virtually uninhabited Galápagos Islands. From that already intriguing premise, Amend then spins off a counterfactual story in which she re-imagines the Conways as American intelligence agents keeping tabs on a few German settlers who might be spies. Were the Conways in fact spies? Were the Germans? It's an intriguing (and possibly dangerous) thing for a novelist to play the "what if" historical game with someone who isn't really a historical figure and who has penned her own account of her life. But it does make for show more interesting reading.

Despite the dramatic backdrop, this is really a story about relationships and deception: the lies we tell to ourselves and those we love, and how we ultimately come to terms with the tangled webs we weave. The relationships at the heart of the story are the Conways' strange marriage and Frances's lifelong friendship with Rosalie.

As a young girl, Frances discovers that she has a taste (and talent) for secrets and lies: "Even back then I was motivated by the excitement of espionage, and I should have learned that it is inevitably disappointing."

The story moves back and forth in time and place, from the Midwest of Frances's and Rosalie's childhood, to prewar and postwar San Francisco, and ultimately to a nursing home where Frances narrates her story at the end of her life. But the story really sings during the war years in the Galápagos. Amend's descriptions of the strange beauty of this exotic but harsh landscape are evocative, and we see the Conways struggle to live in a place they ultimately come to love and call home, despite the enormous hardships. The spy story seems almost incidental to that larger canvas. But the cloak-and-dagger bits are exciting all the same, and I did find myself flipping the pages even quicker when the Conways and the Germans are battling wits with each other in a potentially deadly game of cat and mouse. Did their actions matter, or was it all just a meaningless sideshow far from the actual theaters of war? As Frances says, "I just found it so absurd that we were influencing history. It seemed utterly preposterous, farcical."

Amend tells her story with confidence and warmth. She clearly has fondness for these flawed characters trying to make their way in the world. In Frances she has created an authentic character with a unique voice: honest, lonely, witty. This is very good fiction.

(Thanks to Doubleday / Nan A. Talese for an advance copy via a giveaway. Receiving a free copy did not affect the content of my review.) show less

I found this newly published novel compulsively readable. It's one of those books that you can just fly through - the writing is nice but not complex and the story is interesting but also palatable and slightly predictable. Fun writing, though maybe not "great" writing.

This novel is very loosely based on the memoirs of Frances Conway who lived on the Galapagos Islands with her husband during WWII. It's more than just the story of surviving on an almost uninhabited island, though. In fact I'd say this is more the story of Frances's friendship with childhood friend, Rosalie. The book begins in early 1900s in Duluth, MN and explores the childhood friendship of these two girls. They run away to Chicago together and have a fight that splits show more them up after their adolescence. They ended up meeting each other again by chance in San Francisco just before Frances leaves for the Galapagos. She has been sent there by the U.S. government to spy on the German inhabitants of the island. She marries Ainslie Conway as part of this mission and part of the book focuses on how they learn to exist together.

All of that together sounds like it might read in a disjointed manner, but Amend does a good job of keeping the flow of the narrative and the pacing. And somehow keeping the theme of the female friendship at the core, even when the two aren't around each other.

I wanted to read this book because I've been to the Galapagos Islands and think it's a fascinating place. I wished that there was a bit more time spent on describing the island and how they lived on it. But all in all, this was fun to read. show less

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.

The thing I enjoyed about this novel was the way Amend wrote about the day to day life of Francis in a way that was slow but not boring. I was really captivated by the accounts of Francis and Ainslie on the island and in the States, and it reminded me a bit of Willa Cather. While I really liked the day to day aspects of Enchanted Islands, the "action" and "drama" felt a little underwhelming. Amend set up the relationship between Francis and Rosalie to be much more dramatic than I think it ended up, and the "conflict" on the islands was a little anti-climactic. I do think Amend writes the quiet day to day well and I will keep my eyes out for more of her work.

Enchanted Islands by Allison Amend is a historical novel. This is the story of Frances “Fanny” Frankowski (later shortens it to Frank). Fanny is eighty-two years old and telling the reader her story (fictionalized account). Fanny was born in Duluth, Minnesota on August 3, 1882. Fanny was born to a Polish family that had immigrated to the United States. Fanny meets Rosalie Mendel. Rosalie comes from a Jewish family that encourages education. The Mendel has a nice apartment and clothes with plenty of books. Fanny was looking forward to high school until her parents told her that she had enough education and forced her out to work (though she did evade it for a while through a little trickery). But life is not always greener on the show more other side. Fanny soon comes to find out that Rosalie’s life is not all it appears. Fanny tries to help Rosalie but ends up getting shut out. Then one day Rosalie is ready to flee. They both take off to Chicago. Fanny gets a job and finds a nice beau. Things are great until Rosalie betrays Fanny. Then Fanny heads off on her own. Fanny finishes high school and gets a college education. She ultimately ends up in California. After teaching for many years, Fanny needs a change. She becomes a secretary at the Twelfth District Office of Naval Intelligence. This is where Fanny reconnects with her old friend, Rosalie (I cannot believe Fanny forgave her). One day Fanny is approached about a special assignment. Lt. Commander Ainslie Conway is an intelligence operator (and ten years younger than Fanny). Ainslie needs a wife for a mission in Galapagos Islands (also known as the Enchanted Isles). Fanny agrees to marry Ainslie (they can annul it after the mission) and they set out for training. The two eventually spend a couple of years on the Galapagos Islands where there is no electricity, running water, homes, etc (it sounded awful). They have to take everything with them. This is before World War II and they are checking out the German presence in the area. How will they fare on the island? Will their mission be successful? See what happens to Fanny by reading the Enchanted Islands.

Enchanted Islands is a misleading novel. It is really about Fanny and Rosalie. How their friendship shaped their lives and how it endured despite betrayal and time apart. Very little of the book is devoted to the spy mission and the time the two spent on the islands. This novel started out interesting, but then the pace slowed down considerably (I believe slugs travel faster than the pace of this book). Enchanted Islands is nicely written, but it is lacking spark (something/anything exciting). It just drags on until the end. There are intimate scenes in the novel (and some inappropriate scenes with a minor) and violence. I did not understand Frances with relation to her “marriage”. It was supposed to be a marriage of convenience, but she acted like this was a real marriage (it was odd). This novel is based on real life people, but Enchanted Islands is fiction. I give Enchanted Islands 3 out of 5 stars (just okay). If you are looking for an intriguing spy novel, keep looking.

I received a complimentary copy of Enchanted Islands in exchange for an honest evaluation of the novel. show less

When I read Enchanted Islands by award-winning author Allison Amend, I didn’t realize I had previously read a novel by her that I loved, A Nearly Perfect Copy (link to my review at the end of this review). I loved Enchanted Islands every bit as much. Not realizing I had read anything by her, I found myself wondering why I hadn’t discovered this author before…talk about a head-desk moment when I realized I had. These novels are so different from each other that hopefully I can be forgiven that brain fart moment.

Enchanted Islands is fiction but it’s based on memoirs written by Frances Conway, chronicling her life with her husband as World War II spies stationed on the Galapagos Islands, of all places. Nobody could make that kind show more of stuff up and have it be believable; however, apparently the U.S. actually had spies stationed there during the war…go figure. This is not, however, just a story about people living among Darwin’s evolutionary creatures in a jungle setting. It is a story about relationships, deep and often dark secrets, survival and hope. At its heart, it is also very much a fish out of water story. And this new tale from Ms. Amend is filled with layers and layers to uncover, making for a riveting story. Should you read it? Find out at http://popcornreads.com/?p=9118 show less

One of my greatest reading joys is randomly picking up a book because the cover or title catches my eye and finding myself totally submerged and loving the tale. I've found many a favourite author this way and I was pleasantly surprised to find that this novel was as enjoyable as it's cover was beautiful.

This is a fictional tale written about two actual people from history, Frances and Ainsley Conway, who lived on the Galapagos Islands during the WWII. It's been suggested that they may have been spies and author Allison Amend based her fictional tale on those suspicions. I was sad that this came to an end but I am interested in picking up Frances Conway's novels about their time on the islands.