Book Summary and Reviews of Enchanted Islands by Allison Amend

Book Summary

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.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. Despite everything that happens between them, why do you think Frances and Rosalie's friendship lasts? What makes for a lifelong friendship? Do you have a Rosalie in your life?
2. Frances is alone for much of the novel. In what way does being an unmarried woman around the turn of the last century affect her choices and opportunities?
3. Do you think Frances should have known why Ainslie is so distant? Should Ainslie have told her sooner?
4. So much of Frances' life on Floreana is spent pretending and keeping secrets. Why is she so conflicted about this?
5. What draws Frances and Elke together? What do they have in common? Would they be friends anywhere else?
6. Frances and Rosalie have very different responses to ...