The Hotel Nantucket

Introduction

The Hotel Nantucket (2022) is American writer Elin Hilderbrand’s 28th book. In 2019, New York Magazine journalist Katie Heaney dubbed Hilderbrand “the Queen of beach reads” (Heaney, Katie. “How Elin Hilderbrand Became the ‘Queen of Beach Reads’.” New York Magazine, 2019). According to Heaney, Hilderbrand mastered the beach-read formula, which “was meant to signal a light, fun, breezy read, high on interpersonal drama, low(-ish) on plot” (Heaney). While beach reads are often dismissed as low-brow, their largely apolitical nature appeals to people across the political divide and garners a wide spectrum of readers. Unlike some of her contemporaries, Hilderbrand, who is a fixture on Nantucket Island where she has summered since childhood, does not mind being branded a beach-read writer.

The Hotel Nantucket is a bestseller that received mixed reviews. New York Times journalist Michelle Ruiz observed that “as a travelogue, the novel is exquisite, transporting you ‘on island,’ as ACK lingo goes”, however, she would have also appreciated a similar “richness in the characters and their stories,” which often felt too fleetingly described (Ruiz, Michelle. “Beachy, Sunkissed Novels Set on Nantucket and Cape Cod”, The New York Times, 2022). On the other hand, Elin Hilderbrand herself wrote that Nantucket could “hardly be more fun than this book” and praised it for being the type of beach read that she does best (Hilderbrand, Elin.