Books That Take Place On an Island

Book Summary

​This is a sweeping historical novel that intertwines the lives of three resilient women across different eras, each striving to control her destiny amidst the rich tapestry of Greek culture and mythology.

Maria, living in a poor Greek mountain village in 1921, is sent to America as a picture bride to marry a stranger, a journey filled with fear and uncertainty as she leaves her family behind.

During Italy’s occupation of Cephalonia, Elena entertains soldiers, experiencing fleeting happiness until the German invasion in 1943 brings unforeseen challenges. ​

Born in America but raised on the Greek island of Cephalonia after her mother’s death, Demitra grows up envisioning her mother among the goddesses of her mythology books. In the post-WWII era, Demitra defies societal expectations by rejecting an arranged marriage, pursuing her passion for painting, and engaging in a forbidden love affair.

Book Summary

Newly freed from slavery in 1834 Barbados, Rachel embarks on a courageous journey to find the five children who were taken from her and sold across the Caribbean. Though emancipation has been declared, Rachel realizes true freedom remains elusive, and she refuses to accept the possibility that her children are lost forever.

Her journey takes her from Barbados’s sugarcane fields to British Guiana’s forests and Trinidad’s canals. Along the way, Rachel encounters fellow survivors, uncovers deep scars of colonial oppression, and finds strength, love, and resilience in unexpected places.

Book Summary

Charlotte has just qualified as a vet in London but is leaving the island of England to study the endangered gold coin tortoises on the tiny South Atlantic island of Tuga de Oro. While she outwardly claims that she’s there to save the turtles, the reality is that she’s trying to solve the mystery of her connection to Tuga.

When she arrives, she has little time to investigate because she’s overwhelmed by helping more than tortoises. The island’s dogs, goats, donkeys, and even the islanders themselves seem to need her. Luckily, there’s another new doctor in town as well, and he is distractingly handsome.

Book Summary

Bianca Bridge has always dreamed of becoming a writer, but an affair with a married government official has derailed her prospects. It’s not the career path she envisioned, but she nonetheless accepts when she’s offered a job at a magazine run by a notoriously tyrannical entrepreneur in the island’s beauty scene.

Bianca begins to suspect that Obadiah may not be the elite tyrant everyone believes. But Obadiah, who was born in one of the poorest parts of Trinidad and has clawed his way up society’s ladder, doesn’t want anyone to see past his facade.

When Bianca’s ex threatens to jeopardize the career she’s rebuilt, she’s determined to fight back and finds support from the most unlikely ally.

Book Summary

This page-turning thriller is also a heartfelt story about siblings that will quickly draw you out of your own life and into the lives of the well-written characters. 

The main characters in Castaways are two sisters, Lori and Erin, who are traveling together to an island resort in Fiji after Lori separates from her husband. The night before their flight to the resort, the sisters get into an argument, and Erin doesn’t show up when it’s time to board. 

Lori gets on the plane anyways, but something feels off beyond her MIA sister. Her gut was right…the plane disappears before reaching its destination. When Erin hears this, she uses her experience as a journalist and tries to figure out what happened to Lori and the other passengers.

Book Summary

In this memoir, Safiya tells the story of her struggle to break free of her rigid Rastafarian upbringing. Her childhood was ruled by her father’s strict patriarchal views and repressive control. He was a volatile reggae musician and militant adherent to the strict Rastafari sect obsessed with purity. Concerned with the threat of what Rastas calls Babylon, the corrupting influences of the outside Western world, her father values obedience above all else and worries that womanhood would make Safiya and her sisters morally weak and impure.

While her father banned everything from pants to jewelry and makeup, her mother gave her daughters the gift of books. Safiya latched on to poetry and, in time, used her education to find her voice and to eventually break free.

Book Summary

Despite decades of success as a romance author, Catherine’s personal love story hasn’t been as successful. Three failed marriages have strained her relationship with her daughters, but she’s counting on a family wedding on the Greek island of Corfu to bring them all back together.

Adeline isn’t sure what’s worse – that her mother is getting married for a fourth time, or that she’ll have to travel all the way to her mother’s luxury villa in Corfu to witness what is sure to be a trainwreck. She is still scarred by her parent’s divorce and her mother’s infidelity. She doesn’t blame her half-sister, Cassie, the result of that infidelity, but she’s also never bothered to get to know her.

Cassie, on the other hand, is thrilled by the news of the wedding and sees it as a sign of her mother’s resilience. And the idea of spending her summer in Corfu is a bonus.

When the sisters arrive on the island, they have very high expectations, and both are keeping secrets of their own from their mother. All will be revealed before the wedding day, for better or worse.

Book Summary

A domestic worker from Sri Lanka mysteriously disappears from her employer’s home on the island of Cyprus. To her employer, Petra, Nisha was little more than a caregiver for her daughter, but to Yiannis, a local poacher and Nisha’s secret lover, she was the love of his life. As they both struggle to understand what happened, Petra realizes how little she knew about Nisha’s world.

Through alternating perspectives, the novel explores the exploitation of migrant domestic workers, the emotional and physical sacrifices they make, and the inequalities they face.

Inspired by true events, Songbirds is set against the backdrop of Cyprus’s beauty and complexity and sheds light on injustice, loss, and the overlooked lives of those working in the shadows.

Book Summary

Float Plan takes you to the sunny Caribbean with Anna as she sets off on the boat that she inherited after the loss of her fiancé. While Anna initially begins her adventure alone, she quickly realizes that she’s in over her head. She hires Keane, a professional sailor who is dealing with his own struggles as he faces a future that looks much different than what he had planned.

This book is both an enjoyable beach read and, ultimately, an uplifting story about grief and second chances. Anna originally intends to follow the exact sailing route that she and her fiancé had planned to take together, but along the way, she discovers that she’ll have to chart her own course – both aboard the boat and in her life. Likewise, Keane is navigating rough waters both aboard Anna’s boat and as he struggles to put his life back on the course he had mapped out for himself.

Book Summary

Forty-seven-year-old teacher Margery is fed up with her hard life in the post-WW2 years. It’s 1950, and London is still dealing with rationing and shortages. Despite barely being able to afford basic life at home, Margery decides to take her future in a brave new direction. She posts an ad for a French-speaking assistant to join her on a trip halfway around the world. 

Margery is looking for the fabled golden beetle of New Caledonia that her father told her about when she was a young girl. No matter what obstacles she faces, Margery pushes forward in this cross-ocean historical adventure that takes an unlikely duo to the South Pacific.

Book Summary

London dating columnist Cleo hadn’t planned to spend her 30th birthday alone, but her boss has insisted that she take a brief sabbatical to explore the concept of self-coupling (or dating oneself) as a way to re-energize herself and bring something fresh to her column. She’s booked a luxury cabin on a remote Irish island.

Mac is also looking forward to some alone time. His marriage is falling apart – something he doesn’t want to admit – so he leaves Boston behind with the plan to soul search on the same Irish island.

Due to a mix-up with the bookings, it turns out that both Cleo and Mac have booked the same cabin. The two are instantly at odds, but since the ferry only comes weekly, they are stuck with one another. As the week goes on, they find that they don’t mind each other’s company as much as they thought.

Book Summary

Four million people inhabit the US island territories spread from the Caribbean to the Pacific. While these lands don’t have the benefits of statehood, like representation in the US Senate, they do have everything from US Post Offices to Little League teams.

When the author of this book realized that he (and most other Americans) knew very little about these territories, he decided to visit each one. After covering 30,000 miles and spending time with locals on each island, he was uniquely equipped to write a book about how the territories are an interesting and important part of America’s story.

Book Summary

Maggie is enjoying a well-deserved vacation from her wedding planning business. She’s determined to relax and not think about work. But that’s before she hears that the wedding of the century is happening right here in Bora Bora. If only she had an in, this could help her take her business to the next level.

Unfortunately, that ‘in” comes in the form of the absolute last person she wants to bump into on vacation. Brody is her brother’s best friend and her sworn enemy. It turns out his boss’s daughter is the one getting married. He’s in Bora Bora for the wedding in hopes that it will earn him brownie points toward a big promotion.

Maggie and Brody decide to put their hate for each other aside and pretend to be boyfriend and girlfriend for the sake of the wedding. What could go wrong?

Book Summary

Teenagers Kostas & Defne have a growing love for each other, but it’s forbidden because one of them is Greek Cypriot, and the other is Turkish Cypriot. In the taverna where they meet, a fig tree grows through the roof. The tree survives war, the capital’s destruction, and the teen couple’s disappearance. 

Decades later when Kostas returns, he’s now a botanist searching for native species and his lost love.

Book Summary

In the summer of 1942, at the height of WWII, 21-year-old Anne joins the Army Nurse Corps and is sent to serve in the South Pacific on the island of Bora Bora. 

She has a fiance back home that was chosen for her from birth, and whose father has paid to ensure that he won’t be drafted. After arriving in Bora Bora, she finds herself drawn to a soldier named Westry. Together, they spend many blissful hours under the thatched roof of an abandoned beach bungalow. But they are driven apart when they witness a crime and then Westry is redeployed to Europe.

Years later, back home in Seattle, Westry is never far from Anne’s mind. When a letter arrives, she hopes that maybe they’ll finally be reunited.

Book Summary

Sixteen-year-old Marcia Garcia lives in a seaside village on the north side of the island of Trinidad. A gifted seamstress and smart-mouthed teen, Marcia raises two small boys while protecting a family secret. Her life is turned upside down when she meets Farouk, an ambitious young policeman.

Set against the historical events of the 1940s through the 60s, this novel follows Marcia and Farouk from courtship through raising children. Marcia’s secret will be threatened, entangling all of them in a scandal that puts their future on the line.

Book Summary

Marin has lived life as safely as possible, never even stepping foot outside Tennessee. Her concern started after her journalist mother was killed on assignment, but the tragedy had the opposite effect on her sister, Sadie, who travels the world as a photographer.

After returning from a tough assignment, Sadie convinces Marin to join her in a spa weekend on the island of Saba. She’s skeptical about leaving home, even for a girls’ weekend, but agrees. Her long-time fear of travel is confirmed when Sadie misses the flight, a stranger steals her sister’s seat on the plane, and Marin’s luggage is mixed up with another passenger.

Luckily, the seat-stealer is handsome! Lucas ends up being the perfect travel mate around Saba, and Marin begins to discover more about herself through each adventure.

Book Summary

Diana has her life all planned out – marriage, kids, and climbing the professional ladder in the art auction world. And it all starts with getting engaged to her surgical resident boyfriend, Finn. They are about to head out on a romantic getaway to the Galapagos for her 30th birthday, and she just knows he’ll propose on the trip.

On the eve of their departure, a virus that previously seemed a world away has made its way to NYC and Finn’s hospital needs everyone on-call. He doesn’t want their nonrefundable trip to go to waste, so he convinces Diana to go without him. 

After she arrives, the whole island is forced to quarantine and she finds herself stranded until the borders reopen. Isolated and alone, Diana begins to form a connection with a local family. Through the experience, she finds herself re-evaluating her priorities.

This is a thoroughly researched novel. Some say it starts out a bit slowly, but soon, you’ll find it going in unexpected directions. Readers say the story contains surprises that you won’t see coming!

Book Summary

Irene gets a shocking late-night phone call that her husband has been found dead on the island of St. John, far from their suburban life. When she travels to St. John to figure out what happened to her husband, Irene discovers much more than she expected – including his entire double life. 

This is book #1 in a 3 book series, which means it ends without a fully satisfying ending and you’ll want to keep reading. All three have been released, so you won’t have to wait for publishing, but we wanted to make sure you knew what you were in for!

Book Summary

This historical fiction epic will transport you back in time to the colonial West Indies of the late 1700s and the early 1800s. 

The story centers around Doll, who was born into slavery on the tiny Caribbean island of Montserrat and later bought her freedom (as well as that of her mother and sister) from her Irish planter father. She became an incredibly successful entrepreneur, merchant, and hotelier. 

Along the way, she leveraged the competing attentions of the men in her life as she built a legacy of wealth and power that extended from the marketplaces and sugar plantations of Dominica and Barbados to the South American continent.

Book Summary

Mireille Duval Jameson is living a fairy tale life as the privileged youngest daughter of a wealthy Haitian construction magnate. She has an adoring husband, a precocious infant son, by all appearances a perfect life until she is kidnapped outside her parents’ home in Port-au-Prince. Her captors demand a ransom, but her father—believing that paying would invite more violence—refuses to negotiate.

For thirteen days, Mireille endures brutal treatment at the hands of her kidnappers, forced to confront the fragility of safety, privilege, and identity. When she is finally released, she struggles to reclaim herself, haunted by the violence, betrayal, and psychological scars left behind.

Spanning Haiti and the United States, the novel explores trauma, resilience, and the cost of survival, examining the stark contrast between Mireille’s past and the woman she has become.

Book Summary

Spanning three generations in Hilo, Hawaii, this expressive literary work explores the tradition, culture, family, and history of Native Hawaiians. Hi’i is the youngest daughter of the Naupka dynasty. Her grandmother, Halali, is the Hulu matriarch on the Big Island. Hi’i mother, Laka, disappeared when Hi’i was a child.

As the youngest member of the family, Hi’i struggles with her identity and connection to the past, but hopes to heal the rifts within her family by becoming the next Miss Aloha Hula, just like her mother was. Hula is the perfect way for her to demonstrate that she still has a devotion to her culture. But people still want to know why Laka disappeared. Then, a revelation about Hi’i comes out and leaves the community with a huge decision that will impact the course of Hi’i’s future.

Book Summary

Eleanor lives in a charming home on a cliffside in Nantucket. the house has been in her family for generations. She loves life on the island, but now that she’s in her 70s and widowed, she does feel a bit isolated and lonely at times. That’s why she is looking so forward to the annual family reunion with her children and grandchildren.

Once they arrive, however, things don’t go as Eleanor envisioned. Her children want her to move to a retirement community and sell the house to a developer who’s been eager to acquire the property for years. Her children have concerns about her wintering on the island at her age, but they are clearly interested in getting a share of the money as well.

Eleanor’s lone ally is her 22-year-old granddaughter, who moves in with her for the summer. Together, they enjoy an island summer beyond either of their wildest imaginations.

Book Summary

Old Havana comes to life in this historical fiction novel. In 1947, Patricio flees Spain with nothing more than the clothes on his back and his dreams. Once in Havana, he lands a job at El Encanto – one of the most luxurious department stores in the world that caters to Hollywood stars and other rich and famous clientele. 

It is here that Patricio meets and falls in love with Gloria, the young wife of notorious mobster Cesar Valdes. Within the walls of El Encanto, it’s easy for them to believe that anything is possible. 

Patricio and Gloria’s love affair spans over half a century, as the stories of their lives are intertwined time and time again. Each time, Patricio knows that loving her could be suicide. Still, he can’t help but be drawn to this beautiful woman who has a penchant for both Christian Dior clothes and Einstein’s theories.

Book Summary

This is the story of two teenage girls – Yahaira, a chess prodigy in NYC and Camino, an aspiring doctor in the Dominican Republic. 

Camino lives with her aunt and looks forward to her father visiting each summer. On the day he’s supposed to arrive, she goes to meet him at the airport but finds a crowd of mourners and learns that her father’s plane went down.

That same day, Yahaira is at school when she’s called down to the principal’s office, where her mom is waiting to tell her that her father has died in a plane crash.

This book will transport you from Queens, New York to the colorful homes of the Dominican Republic as these two girls discover the secret their father left behind – each other.