The Five Elin Hilderbrand Books You Must Read Before Swan Song
It’s Elin Hilderbrand’s Swan Song. Literally. Here are the books you should read before you dive in.
I’ll admit it: I’m a new convert to Elin Hilderbrand. In my younger and more superior days, I wouldn’t have deigned to open such fluffy, unserious stuff. But let’s not talk about twenty years ago; I’m cringing enough already.
I’m now proud to say I’m an Elin convert and on my way to being an Elin completist, and her final Nantucket novel, Swan Song, has pushed me into fandom. From the release of The Beach Club in 2000 to the June 2024 publication of Swan Song, Elin Hilderbrand has thirty books under her belt and is the undisputed champion of the beach read. With stories set on either Nantucket Island or St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Hilderbrand whisks readers away from the every day to the magical, sand-between-your-toes bliss of island life.
If you’re new to Elin, as I was, or if you just want a refresher on Elin’s oeuvre before you reach her final, salty Swan Song, then this is my list of the Elin books to read first.
First Things First: The Beach Club
As Julie Andrews said, let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. The Queen of the Beach got her start as a writer at the Iowa Writers Workshop, home to literary heavyweights like Patchett, Bly, Irving, and Stenger. Needless to say, she didn’t exactly … fit in. Her writing style, her blond hair, her inclination toward the happily ever after, or at least happy for now, wasn’t exactly what Iowa was looking for. But Elin didn’t let that get in her way. After graduating in 1998, she published her first novel, The Beach Club, in 2000, and the quintessential Elin is all there.
I’ve never been to Nantucket (spoiler alert, the header photo is of Rehoboth Beach — my own personal happy place), but after a few Elin books, I’m right there. I can see the tiny unmarked roads, feel the rough New England sand grains beneath my feet, taste the just-caught cherrystones still in their briny bath. This is Elin’s gift, and it's on full display at The Beach Club.
Mack Peterson, general manager of The Beach Club and Hotel, is back for his twelfth season on the job, but he’s at a turning point — ask for a bigger stake in The Beach Club’s business or return home to run his neglected family farm. Meanwhile, old rivalries, new employees, distressed and distracted owners, and the endless pull of demanding guests and a languishing personal life will give Mack a run for his money.
Stephen King once said: “People love to read about work. God knows why, but they do.” And Elin, for all her beachy vacation vibes and people who seem to have the whole summer off to go to the Oar and Field club or jump onto a visiting yacht, knows it. In addition to her sumptuous descriptions of vacation hedonism, she takes a good long look at the people chilling the champagne, folding the sheets, and putting out the umbrellas. We can argue about characterization and I’m not even gonna defend Elin’s portrayal of Vance Robbins (all I’m going to say is: cringe). But the essential Elin is there. Ease and escapism, hard work, and talent all play out on a tiny island in the middle of the Atlantic.
Book Two: The Blue Bistro
Published in 2005, The Blue Bistro is the next stop on the Elin Hilderbrand tour. If The Beach Club is behind the scenes of the hotel industry, The Blue Bistro is Anthony Bourdain meets Emily Henry. The most coveted restaurant on Nantucket will close its doors after one all-out banger of a summer, and brand new hostess Adrienne Dealey is there to guide readers through all the ins and outs of the loves, secrets, and desires of this restaurant staff cum family. After reading The Blue Bistro, I have no idea how Elin stays so thin (I know, I know, I too have read about her insane workout regimen) because, oh … the food. So lovingly described I can practically taste it. While I never fully understood why Adrienne was so entranced by elusive restaurant frontman Thatcher Smith, Chef Fiona, Pastry Chef Mario Subiaco, and Adrienne were compelling enough characters to keep me coming back for more. And wow, was I happy to see glimpses of this book in some of the books to come.
Book Three: The Castaways
The Castaways is the origin story for the friend group central to Elin’s final book, Swan Song, but fair warning, I also think of The Castaways as Elin’s grief book. I want you to know this before you take this book with you to the town pool and find yourself in the middle of an ugly cry. Your blurry eyes are going to make it hard to keep an eye on your kids while they attempt to drown each other in the laps lane and your neighbors will start to wonder if you’ve found a new therapist yet.
At the very opening of the book, Tess and Gregg drown in a sailing accident on their anniversary. Now, Tess’s cousin Andrea, her Police Chief husband Ed Kapenash, and their friends Addison and Phoebe and Delila and Jeff must grapple with the two orphaned children left behind and the barrage of secrets they are all keeping. I told you, Elin lays it on thick in this one.
While the grief angle in this one is a bit overwhelming for me, it's essential to understanding the relationships in Swan Song some fifteen years later.
Book Four: The Perfect Couple
The Perfect Couple is Elin’s romance/suspense book. While it’s not my favorite Elin, it is the book you need before you read Swan Song. The Otis-Winbury wedding was set to be the event of the summer. Held at the lavish Winbury home on Nantucket, the groom’s parents have spared no expense. But what they couldn’t plan for was a dead bridesmaid and a bride with her bags packed and ready to go. Police Chief Ed Kapenash leads an investigation into everyone involved. Weddings, especially resort/vacation weddings are always a ripe source of tension (see: Maggie Shipstead’s Seating Arrangements) and Elin uses this one well. With a captive group of guests, The Perfect Couple gives a nod to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None.
Don’t @ me: I know Ed Kapenash shows up in Golden Girl, too, but in my opinion, you can skip it. While it’s an opportunity to see Ed and his officers do their thing in a mystery/romance novel, I’m not a fan of Golden Girl. It’s another grief book that begins with beloved author Vivian Howe dead in the first few pages after a hit and run. Call me crazy, but in Elin’s telling, I had a hard time caring about Vivi’s stakes in the story when she was, well … dead.
Book Five: And Here I’m Going to Cheat
The fifth book is reader’s choice. Either 28 Summers, written in 2020, or The Five Star Weekend in 2023, round out what makes Elin, well, Elin. With all this talk of police officers and suspicious deaths, it’s important to get back to some core Elin Hilderbrand. By 2020, Elin (who is a contemporary of mine) has honed her art, has lived through kids, and illness, and the dubious honors of middle age, all of which reflect beautifully in her work.
28 Summers is Elin at her most romantic. Much like Sleepless in Seattle was inspired by An Affair to Remember, 28 Summers is an homage to Same Time, Next Year. Mallory and Jake meet at Mallory’s brother’s stag weekend and have one magical Labor Day weekend that they endeavor to relive every year after. It is the almost unrequited love novel we all need. It’s the infidelity novel where even the strictest of us may soften. Mallory and Jake’s love is so completely out of the realm of reality and so firmly ensconced in painful beauty that we forgive Elin the torture.
The other solid choice is The Five Star Weekend. A year after the unexpected death of her husband, Hollis Shaw, mom and internet celebrity, decides to host a “Five Star” weekend, inviting four of her friends from each stage of her life — childhood, college, early parenthood, and present to her home in Nantucket, where they will live it up at the best restaurants and enjoy the best of everything, five stars for the five stars. This is definitely one of the most indulgent of the Elin books. Wealthy Hollis with her mostly wealthy friends are the definition of champagne problems, but wow, does she nail female friendships, parenting grown-up kids, long marriages, and facing yourself in the mirror once much of your life is behind you, all themes coming full force in Swan Song.
Now You’re Ready For: Swan Song
Ed Kapenash is serving his last few days as Chief of Police of Nantucket Island. Ed is still the stand-up guy we met in The Castaways, and he’s still the gruff but loveable arm of the law from The Perfect Couple and Golden Girl. But his steak-loving ways have caught up to him, and after surviving a heart attack, he promises Andrea just one more summer and he’ll retire.
That was before the Richardson’s newly bought home on Pocomo Road burned down and their mysterious personal assistant Coco went missing and is feared dead. Ed knows more than he’d like to about the Richardsons. The remaining members of the Castaways — Ed and Andrea, Phoebe and Addison, and Delila and Jeff are swept up into the Richardsons’ orbit as this extravagant and bacchanalian couple descend on Nantucket and shake up the social scene. Beyond that, Ed’s daughter, Kasey, who is “taking a break for the summer,” has become fast friends with Coco. Ed can’t just leave the investigation to incoming Chief Zara Washington, although, maybe with his heart, he should.
The main plot of Swan Song is meaty enough, but Elin provides a satisfying bonus subplot. If you’ve read any other Elins, you’ll immediately recognize Blond Sharon. Fresh from a late-in-marriage divorce and on the market for both new love and new life goals, Blond Sharon (the town gossip and who is inextricably linked to the Cobblestone Telegraph, which is a nod to the Greek Chorus) has jumped into a creative writing class and finally gets a story of her own.
Sweet and suspenseful, full of sumptuous descriptions and raucous summerland fun, the final Elin Hilderbrand Nantucket book is a nostalgia-filled love letter to a beach of a career.
There are other Elins that are great. I’m partial to Beautiful Day — the wedding one; The Hotel Nantucket — the ghost story one, and Here’s To Us — the ex-wives one. But the books listed above are my essential Elin Hilderbrand list. The ones that shape Elin as a writer encompass her world and her loves and lead you to Swan Song.