The Nantucket Novels of Elin Hilderbrand Are the Perfect Beach Read

By Kayleigh Donaldson  |  August 14, 2024 | 3:30pm
Books Features Elin Hilderbrand
The Nantucket Novels of Elin Hilderbrand Are the Perfect Beach Read

The Perfect Couple, the latest drama from Netflix, seems to have the perfect ingredients for a binge-ready series: a starry cast that includes Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber, a murder mystery, lots of family drama and secrets, and a scenic locale full of wealth porn. It also has an extra detail that is certain to attract a hungry audience: the name Elin Hilderbrand. The Perfect Couple is the first adaptation of her work, which is surprising given her status as a bona fide publishing phenomenon, and the fact that her books are basically the literary version of a delicious binge-watch. A whole new viewership is about to discover the queen of the beach reads.

Even if you haven’t read her work, the chances are you’ve still seen Hilderbrand’s books in the wild. Her covers are typically sky blue, with beautiful women in big hats sitting by the beach or diving into the water. They’re frequently found atop the bestseller list for weeks at a time, or in the shelves of airports and libraries where people grab them for the ideal summer read. When you think of the term “beach read”—a fizzy but compelling book that is typically read by women and has some sort of romantic element— it’s Hilerbrand’s novels that embody the genre’s Platonic ideal. While some readers want to be whisked away to Westeros or Middle Earth, Hilderbrand’s devotees dream of a less mystical but no less magical place: Nantucket.

The typical Elin Hilderbrand book follows a winning formula: a Nantucket setting where everyone is comfortably wealthy but not ostentatiously so; accomplished women with interesting jobs and tumultuous family lives; hidden secrets that threaten to bubble over at any moment; affairs and love triangles; a mystery element that could include murder but may also be a secret addiction or childhood trauma; lots of delicious descriptions of food and clothes; the occasional appearance from a ghost; and, of course, the scenic and aspirational delights of that island. Over the course of 30 novels (plus some short stories), Hilderbrand’s work encompasses the most delicious depiction of an oft-mythologized place that was once described by Boston.com as “Billionaire’s Isle.”

Nantucket is truly the star of the Hilderbrand world. It’s where the writer herself lives and many of the island’s real buildings and establishments populate her novels. The shiny-haired women of her stories (who are always svelte and adorned in brands) live in one of the most expensive places in America, and their lives are full of parties, galas, beachside homes, and yachts. Hilderbrand incorporates real street names and businesses into her novels, giving them the feeling of a private tour around the island’s hidden gems. The Hilder-brand is so mighty that she is now a crucial part of the Nantucket economy, offering annual getaways for her fans so that they can hang out with her, visit the books’ locales, and meet like-minded Hilderbabes. She’s now a bigger draw to the isle than that other great Nantucket novel, Moby Dick (admittedly, that book has less hot love triangles in it.)

It’s a balance between the highly relatable and the almost embarrassingly unrelatable that makes the ideal Hilderbrand book. We’re all familiar with interpersonal struggles, with feeling trapped in a relationship going nowhere, but not with organizing multi-million-dollar fundraising events or creating glass sculptures that will sell for six figures. Rich people problems are everyone’s problems in her world, but the safety net of an upper-middle-class lifestyle certainly cushions some of the blow. It’s not hard to see why readers would be so drawn to stories of wealth and easy living at a time when the vast majority of people aren’t so lucky. It’s The White Lotus but you actually like all of the characters caught up in the drama.

“Beach read” is not a term that carries much prestige. It’s like “chick lit”, a derisive descriptor with the implicit assertion that the stories contained within those bright and chipper covers are not steeped in true literary merit. Any woman who’s read a romance novel knows this smarmy dismissal is pointless, and yet it persists, even with someone as beloved and frequently read as Hilderbrand. Her books are easy reads but they’re not frivolous. She talks of death, alcoholism, abuse, murder, and strife in every novel. No character is left without some kind of darkness in their souls. Amid these lives of luxury and yacht-heavy summer vacations is a drama that would put HBO to shame.

Is it the focus on women that proves to be such a hindrance for the publishing elite? Are those covers just too glossy? Similar critiques have been made about the likes of Liane Moriarty, author of Big Little Lies, and Jodi Picoult of My Sister’s Keeper fame: the stories are too soapy, too melodramatic, not connected to real life or its mundanities. One wonders if the people saying stuff like this have even read the work, which is deeply concerned with things that are all too real to many.

Hilderbrand announced this year, with the publication of her latest bestseller Swan Song, that she was retiring from the world of Nantucket fiction. Despite clamoring demand from readers and her publisher, she just didn’t have any more Nantucket ideas left in her (the island is only 14 miles in length, after all.) She doesn’t plan to stop writing, having signed a deal to write about a New England private school with her daughter. But it’s still the end of an era for a titan of her field. Fortunately, for you newbies, a couple dozen books are waiting for you to delve into. There really isn’t a better summer book choice than the peak of the beach read.

Kayleigh Donaldson is a critic and pop culture writer for Pajiba.com. Her work can also be found on IGN, Slashfilm, Uproxx, Little White Lies, Vulture, Roger Ebert, and other publications. She lives in Dundee.

 
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