Famed Author Elin Hilderbrand Dishes on Her New Novel and What Her 'Retirement' Really Means
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Elin Hilderbrand is the "Queen of Beach Reads" and author of 28 novels, including her newest book, The Hotel Nantucket. Ahead of its summer 2022 release on June 14, she spoke to Woman's Day about the inspiration behind the book, Easter eggs loyal readers can look forward to, her full list of Nantucket recommendations, and exclusive intel on the new "Beach Read Suite" coming to the real-life Nantucket Hotel. Plus, she's sharing the news that her new novel will be made available two weeks early, exclusively to Literati Book Club subscribers.
Hilderbrand admits that she was hesitant about picking her own book for her Literati book club, The Beach & Beyond. "It's not really who I am," she says. "I am not on Literati to promote my own work; I am on Literati to bring other people's work to light. But the powers that be assured me that this is really what the readers want — they want early access but also a more intimate conversation with me about the novel," she continues, "and so that is what the app does, that is what my author chats do. They allow a deeper level of involvement from my readers."
That's not to say she won't enjoy the opportunity to connect with readers, as "the best expert" on her own work. "It will be so fun to discuss my own work," Hilderbrand says. "And people who subscribe to Literati will get it two weeks early, which is going to be a big boon. I think people are really excited about this book, and people like to be first, and so I think that will draw a lot of people in."
The June book marks Hilderbrand's one-year anniversary with Literati, and she says it's been a learning experience. "You learn a lot," she says. "I've been listening to the readers' response, like the kind of books they want me to pick."
Read on for all the details on The Hotel Nantucket, plus more from our conversation with the author. Hilderbrand opens up about what her upcoming "retirement" will look like, reveals plans to write a novel with her daughter, and shares an update on page-to-screen adaptations in the works.
What is Elin Hilderbrand's new 2022 book, The Hotel Nantucket about?
"The Hotel Nantucket is about a grand hotel. In the novel, the hotel has been sitting dormant for years and years and years and is a crumbling eyesore and a blight on Nantucket," she says.
When a London billionaire named Xavier Darling swoops in to save it, he hires Nantucket native Lizbet Keaton, who is going through a bad breakup. "It's her second act," Hilderbrand notes. "She's the boots on the ground. It's her responsibility to get the hotel up and running, hire the staff," and impress Shelly Carpenter, the "Hotel Confidential" Instagram influencer whose review could make or break the hotel's reopening success. This may be easier said than done, due to secrets and complications, including the ghost of chambermaid Grace Hadley, who died in 1922. "She is creating all kinds of mischief, in addition to just watching what's happening as the summer unfolds," Hilderbrand teases.
When asked what she was most excited about with the new novel, Hilderbrand says she had a lot of fun with the challenge of creating a whole world inside the hotel. "The interior design was really fun and I perused any number of interior design sites and used the work of designers that I know personally. And then I created a cast of characters — and they don't come fully formed. You have to sit with them day after day, week after week, month after month until you know who they are and how they're going to interact. I restarted this novel six times trying to get it right."
Is The Hotel Nantucket a real place?
"I based the hotel on a place that exists on Nantucket, called the Nantucket Hotel and Resort, which is a place that I have spent a lot of time. It's where I do my Elin Hilderbrand Bucket List Weekends in January. I'm very good friends with the owners, so it was fun to imagine a different past for this hotel and then a different present and future."
Hilderbrand says the owners of the Nantucket Hotel read an early copy of her new novel, and they are creating a "Beach Read Suite" using some of the design elements she put in the novel. "At some point in the near future, people will be able to check into the Beach Read Suite, which will be like checking into a room at the Hotel Nantucket," she shares.
Another fun, fictional detail in her new book that Hilderbrand is bringing to life? "In the hotel in the novel, they hand out something called the Blue Book, which is a recommendation guide that the characters give to the guests coming in. As I was writing this, I thought, I should write my own Blue Book, because my readers are constantly asking me for my own suggestions about what to see, where to go, what to eat, etc. when they're on Nantucket. So at the end of the novel is my own version of the Blue Book, which gives all of my Nantucket recommendations for beaches and museums and shopping and restaurants, it covers all the festivals and the weekends, and is just sort of my take on this island."
Is The Hotel Nantucket a stand-alone novel?
Hilderbrand explains that all of her summer novels are stand-alone. "It's just extra fun if you've read these other books, but everything is absolutely a stand alone," she says. "The only ones that really should not be read stand alone are my winter series — I have two separate winter series, one is a holiday [the Winter Street series], one is the Paradise series set in St. John. Those should be read in order."
The Hotel Nantucket Easter eggs and returning characters:
"There's a ton of Easter eggs throughout the book," Hilderbrand reveals. "Some of my characters from two of my very early novels, The Beach Club and The Blue Bistro, come back in this novel, so people who've read every Elin Hilderbrand book will see characters from those two books, as well as other recurring characters. Some of them just make an ever-so-brief cameo, but people who've read my novels, they will be so, so excited."
Hilderbrand adds, "This novel uses the chorus voice of Nantucket — I do this in a bunch of my novels, Nantucket speaks — because there's a lot of gossip about the hotel flying around, so those chapters are really fun, I think, and will be engaging for readers."
Which Elin Hilderbrand novel should you start with?
"The Castaways, which came out in 2009, was the first book where there are a bunch of characters who then come back again and again, so The Castaways is a great place to start. But really, honestly for people who have never read a novel of mine, I start them either with The Blue Bistro, because it's a restaurant book and it's very delicious and has a great love triangle in it. Or, I start them with The Perfect Couple, because The Perfect Couple is a murder mystery and a lot of readers just enjoy that element."
Are the retirement rumors true?
"I'm going to write two more Nantucket summer books and then after that, in my retirement, I don't know what I'll do," Hilderbrand tells Woman's Day. "It's possible I'll write more Nantucket summer books or it's possible I'll try — I'm not going to try another genre — but I might write something different, like somewhere else, maybe set in Australia, maybe set in New York City, I don't know. The nice thing is, I will have options to write other kinds of books."
"I am planning on writing a novel with my daughter. She is 16, and she goes to this very fancy New England boarding school. This was her first year, she has finessed it and navigated it beautifully, but oh my goodness, so much drama! I said to Shelby, 'We are doing a boarding school novel.' And Shelby is an outstanding, incredible writer," Hilderbrand continues.
"My dream is that I can stop writing and she can sort of take over for me in a couple years, but we're going to write a novel together about boarding school. That will not be a YA novel, it will be an adult novel — like The Catcher in the Rye — set in boarding school. I'm going to write the two adult perspectives, and she is going to write the two student perspectives. So that is one project that I'm very keen to do."
Hilderbrand also has six book projects in development with various studios — and one of them has recently been given a green light.
When asked if she's looking forward to her schedule calming down in 2024, she says, "Oh yeah. I can't wait. The problem is, expectations are very high. The person whose expectations are the highest are mine, which is as it should be. I have to keep writing the summer Nantucket books, and I want them to be better or different from the one that came before. Nantucket is a tiny place and I have covered so much ground already — this is my 28th novel — that I'm running out of new material. I want to stop before I start repeating myself and before the quality of the books drop. I'm very committed to making sure that the last two books are really great and different and exciting, and then I will put an endcap on that part of my career, and move on to whatever comes next."
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