In Enchanted Islands, renowned art historian Mary D. Sheriff explores the legendary, fictional, and real islands that filled the French imagination during the ancien regime as they appeared in royal ballets and festivals, epic literature, paintings, engravings, book illustrations, and other objects. Some of the islands were mythical and found in the most popular literary texts of the day—islands featured prominently, for instance, in Ariosto’s Orlando furioso,Tasso’s Gerusalemme liberata, and Fénelon’s, Telemachus. Other islands—real ones, such as Tahiti and St. Domingue—the French learned about from the writings of travelers and colonists. All of them were imagined to be the home of enchantresses who used magic to conquer heroes by promising sensual and sexual pleasure. As Sheriff shows, the theme of the enchanted island was put to many uses. Kings deployed enchanted-island mythology to strengthen monarchical authority, as Louis XIV did in his famous Versailles festival Les Plaisirs de l’île enchantée. Writers such as Fénelon used it to tell morality tales that taught virtue, duty, and the need for male strength to triumph over female weakness and seduction. Yet at the same time, artists like Boucher painted enchanted islands to portray art’s purpose as the giving of pleasure. In all these ways and more, Sheriff demonstrates for the first time the centrality of enchanted islands to ancient regime culture in a book that will enchant all readers interested in the art, literature, and history of the time.

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.

Sail to the exotic Galapagos Islands with Herman Melville, author of "Moby-Dick." Let History and Legend, Fiction and Fact, Myth and Mystery swirl around you as you enter "The Encantadas," a unique island world stretching along our planet's Equator. Discover teeming seabird rookeries, stark volcanic landscapes, and world famous giant tortoises . . . Meet buccaneers and explorers, colonists and castaways, whalers and naturalists . . . Explore these Enchanted Isles with one of America's greatest writers . . . Enrich your once-in-a-lifetime visit to . . . The Galapagos Islands. Travelers have been arriving in the Galapagos Islands since at least 1535. While naturalist Charles Darwin made these volcanic peaks famous, Spanish explorers, English buccaneers, American whalers, Ecuadorian colonists, and a United States President all put in appearances here over the centuries. Herman Melville was one such visitor. He first glimpsed the Galapagos Islands as a young seaman on the whaler "Acushnet" out of New Bedford, Massachusetts. Years later, after the failure of his novel "Moby-Dick," he tried to regain his lost popularity with the reading public by writing a series ten of magazine sketches recalling the strange worlds he found in these Enchanted Isles. This current book was created for today's visitor-or armchair visitor. Bring it with you, or read it before you leave home. Enhance your enjoyment of the Galapagos Islands with these glimpses of its captivating natural and human history written over 150 years ago by that famous fellow traveler. Discover . . . - Herman Melville's ten sketches called "The Encantadas or Enchanted Isles." - Forty of Moses Michelsohn's striking b&w photographs (in color in the ebook) from the Galapagos islands: birds, iguanas, giant tortoises, sea lions, exotic plants, and volcanic landscapes. - Lynn Michelsohn's introduction to the work, and to each individual sketch. Enjoy your visit to the Galapagos Islands! About the Authors Herman Melville wrote in the genre that has been called "dark romanticism." "The Encantadas," like "Moby-Dick" (considered by many to be the best novel ever written) and his well respected novella "Billy Budd," draws on his shipboard experiences in the South Seas as a young man. Lynn Michelsohn has written such diverse books as "Roswell, Your Travel Guide to the UFO Capital of the World!" and "Gullah Ghosts, Stories and Folktales from the South Carolina Lowcountry." Her longstanding interests in both the Galapagos Islands and Herman Melville led to this work. Like Melville, biologist and wildlife photographer Moses Michelsohn found tortoises on the Galapagos Islands fascinating. Tree frogs in Ecuador, Costa Rica, and the southeastern United States remain his primary research interest, however.

He transforms her quiet world into a dazzling realm of money and success...but can she know what is really in his heart? Young Nicole loves her beautiful Mediterranean island paradise - until dashing composer Paul Quest looks deep into her eyes and promises to carry her away to his London penthouse. And so shy, tender Nicole trades her blue jeans and rope-soled sandals for high fashion and the dizzying sophistication of Paul's elite social whirl. But even as her young heart thrills at the romance, the question burns: will Paul's love stand the test, or is she destined to become just another of his brief affairs?

Enchanted Islands tells the true story of Laura Coffey's epic journey around the mystical archipelagos of the Mediterranean. Blending memoir, travel and nature writing with tales from The Odyssey, and infused with sharply comic wit, this is a celebration of the redemptive powers of cold-water swimming and luminous star-lit skies.

On a secluded Island, shielded from the outside world, a close-knit community thrives in joyous seclusion. The islanders abide by a strict rule: never lose sight of the land while sailing, for those who venture too far vanish without a trace. Madame De Voe, the island’s governor, mourns the loss of her husband, son, and his cherished pet seagull, all claimed by the treacherous sea. But fate takes an unexpected turn when the son miraculously returns, washed up on the shore with a mysterious medallion and accompanied by a loyal seagull. Strangely, his memories are fragmented, with no recollection of his father’s demise, his own perilous rescue, or his time spent among the island’s peculiar inhabitants. As the community celebrates this extraordinary homecoming and plants the sacred spring, a disabled resident named Emma makes a remarkable discovery—a revelation that intertwines their fates and sets them on a path to uncover the island’s secrets. In this captivating tale of love, loss, and resilience, join the islanders as they navigate forgotten memories, ancient myths, and unforeseen revelations. Can they unravel the enigmatic origins of their island and shape their own destiny, or will the relentless sea keep them captive forever?

Table of Contents 1. "Once on a Time" 2. The Enchanted Isle 3. The Fairy Bower 4. Prince Marvel 5. The King of Thieves 6. The Troubles of Nerle 7. The Gray Men 8. The Fool-Killer 9. The Royal Dragon of Spor 10. Prince Marvel Wins His Fight 11. The Cunning of King Terribus 12. The Gift of Beauty 13. The Hidden Kingdom of Twi 14. The Ki and the Ki-Ki 15. The High Ki of Twi 16. The Rebellion of the High Ki 17. The Separation of the High Ki 18. The Rescue of the High Ki 19. The Reunion of the High Ki 20. Kwytoffle, the Tyrant 21. The Wonderful Book of Magic 22. The Queen of Plenta 23. The Red Rogue of Dawna 24. The Enchanted Mirrors 25. The Adventurers Separate 26. The End of the Year 27. A Hundred Years Afterward