The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand

Book Summary: The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand

Reeling from a bad break-up, Lizbet Keaton is desperately seeking a fresh start. When she’s named the new general manager of the Hotel Nantucket, a Gilded Age gem whose glamour has been left to tarnish, she hopes that her local expertise and charismatic staff can transform the hotel’s fortunes – and her own.

All she needs to do is win over their new billionaire owner from London, Xavier Darling – and the wildly popular Instagram influencer, Shelly Carpenter, who can help put them back on the map. But behind the glossy façade, complete with wellness centre and celebrity chef-run restaurant, a perfect storm is brewing.

Hotel Nantucket can’t seem to shake off the scandal of 1922, when a tragic fire killed nineteen-year-old chambermaid Grace Hadley – and the guests have complicated pasts of their own. With Grace gleefully haunting the halls, secrets among the staff, and Lizbet’s own romantic uncertainty, there’s going to be trouble in paradise.

Book Review: The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand

Elin Hilderbrand’s latest novel The Hotel Nantucket arrived just in time to provide the ultimate beach read for summer. As one of Hilderbrand’s most devoted fans, I tore into this 400-page book with equal parts excitement and trepidation. Could the “Queen of the Summer Novel” keep delivering those delicious, juicy, drama-filled stories that make her books such addictive reads? The answer is a resounding yes.

The Hotel Nantucket centers around the historic Hotel Nantucket, a gilded age gem that has fallen into disrepair after over a century of operation on the idyllic island. Enter Lizbet Keaton, recently named as the new general manager tasked with restoring the hotel to its former grandeur under new ownership by a mysterious British billionaire. With a picturesque New England island setting, a crumbling yet glamorous old hotel ripe for renovation, and a slate of colorful characters both working at and visiting the hotel, Hilderbrand has all the ingredients for a delicious summer potboiler.

One of the great joys of reading an Elin Hilderbrand novel is getting utterly immersed in the sun-drenched world she creates, this time on the island of Nantucket. Hilderbrand’s descriptions deftly capture the magic of the island’s dune-swept beaches, quintessential New England charm, and active social scene that have made it a haven for the East Coast elite for centuries. You can almost feel the salty ocean breeze while devouring the book.

As someone who has previously visited Nantucket, I loved how vividly Hilderbrand brings the island’s landmarks and atmosphere to life through her vivid writerly eye for detail. Scenes of catching the iconic ferry ride over from Cape Cod, roaming the cobblestoned boutique-lined streets downtown, licking a pastry from the beloved Something Natural bakery, or watching a sublime Nantucket sunset really allow the island to become a distinct and inviting setting that heightens the story.

While Hilderbrand paints the island’s landscapes in rich detail, it is the cast of characters she assembles for The Hotel Nantucket that truly allows the story to blossom into an engaging page-turner. Lizbet herself is a compelling protagonist – a woman starting over in her 40s after a failed relationship by taking on a high-stakes career challenge to revive a faded Nantucket treasure. The newly divorced Londoner Xavier Darling who has purchased the hotel and his blindly loyal assistant provide a respite of dry British humor.

An eccentric collection of staffers including chefs and housekeepers who seem to have a million secrets also make for entertaining foils. Even the ghost of a murdered chambermaid becomes a cheeky supernatural presence haunting the halls. This broad ensemble allows Hilderbrand to develop a sprawling narrative with interweaving storylines and continuously shift the perspective between characters, ratcheting up the delicious drama.

As is typical for Hilderbrand’s novels, The Hotel Nantucket is soaked in the luxurious trappings of privilege, fame, and wealth. With the lavish hotel set as the backdrop, she absolutely revels in describing chi-chi amenities like a carefully curated hotel wellness center, posh beachfront cottages, and a hotel restaurant run by a famous celebrity chef. A steady parade of billionaires, social media influencers, real housewives, and old money elite make appearances as hotel guests and romantic dalliances. Reading it provides a seductive escapist indulgence into the world of the glamorous and wealthy.

At the same time, The Hotel Nantucket has more psychological depth than the usual beach read fluff. Hilderbrand infuses the story with sobering threads about alcoholism, infidelity, toxic relationships, and dealing with trauma. Lizbet is a flawed heroine grappling with the scars of her toxic marriage and self-esteem after her husband left her. The hotel manager role is both a fresh start and a chance to finally prove her worth after being emotionally beaten down for years. Themes of female empowerment, overcoming self-doubt, and confronting the harsh realities behind glamorous appearances keep this from being pure escapism.

The driving engine for plot, however, remains the tantalizing romantic possibilities and the steady stoking of mystery surrounding the hotel’s past. Who is the enigmatic Xavier Darling, and what are his true intentions in buying this hotel? What dark secrets lurk behind the walls of this historic building? Why does the playful specter of a young hotel maid seem hellbent on haunting the halls? All these threads keep readers furiously turning pages in anticipation of scandalous reveals.

Hilderbrand is a master at maintaining suspense while simultaneously dropping delicious breadcrumbs about characters’ motivations and the overarching mystery. By continuously jumping between the lively ensemble’s various perspectives, she builds narrative momentum while also gifting readers soapy doses of romance, family drama, career squabbles, and backstabbing that is certain to delight her fans. Even as the book heads toward its climactic conclusion, Hilderbrand holds some cards remarkably close to the vest until the very last chapters.

In maintaining the palatial world of the hotel setting while also digging into deeper character motivations and portrayals of adversity and trauma, The Hotel Nantucket feels like a more substantial, layered novel than some of Hilderbrand’s earlier works in the genre. Her talents for setting a sunny, inviting scene and then populating it with charismatic characters to propel an entertaining plot forward have never been stronger. This book is an absolute sparkling summer delight.

That said, some readers may find Hilderbrand’s portrayal of wealth, privilege, and the interior lives of New England elite to be a bit too indulgent or cloying at times. The steady name-dropping of luxury brands, obsession with social media influence, and overall glamorization of opulence can feel like it reaches saturation level as the book wears on. Her characterizations of the upper crust can also veer toward caricature by leaning into certain tropes. While a fun lark, this is not the deepest well for profound substance.

For the vast majority of readers seeking a transportive and compulsively readable summer escape, however, Elin Hilderbrand’s The Hotel Nantucket easily delivers the perfect bright and breezy getaway. From the first inviting chapter’s vivid descriptions of the stately edifice, through all the soap opera twists and turns, all the way to the poignant yet hopeful denouement back on the island’s shores, this novel completely immerses readers in the lush, dramatic world Hilderbrand has created. It’s her most entertaining and richly developed literary vacation yet to Nantucket.