{"id":9426,"date":"2025-07-14T15:57:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T15:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/9426\/"},"modified":"2025-07-14T15:57:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T15:57:07","slug":"elin-hilderbrand-just-wrote-the-ultimate-guide-to-nantucket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/9426\/","title":{"rendered":"Elin Hilderbrand just wrote the ultimate guide to Nantucket"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBooks\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThe “Queen of the Beach Read” talks Nantucket must-stops, her upcoming novel, and her many upcoming screen adaptations.<\/p>\n

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\n\tBestselling author Elin Hilderbrand shares her favorite Nantucket spots from her new travel guide, teases upcoming TV adaptations, and talks about her next novel, “The Academy.” \t<\/p>\n

When I reach Elin Hilderbrand on a recent sunny afternoon, she\u2019s in her happy place: a Nantucket beach.<\/p>\n

I hear waves rolling in, an occasional gull, over the phone as Hilderbrand talks from 40th Pole<\/a> beach \u2014 one of the featured stops in her new Nantucket travel guide.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Blue Book<\/a>\u201d (2025), Hilderbrand\u2019s ultimate insider\u2019s guide to Nantucket \u2014 with charming illustrations by Meredith Hanson \u2014 is already a national bestseller. (I want to live in Hanson\u2019s map.)<\/p>\n

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While Nantucket\u2019s \u201cQueen of the Beach Read\u201d retired from Nantucket fiction last year<\/a>, it feels natural that she\u2019d dip a toe into Nantucket nonfiction, with a guide to her personal favorite spots \u2014 from restaurants to shops, hotels to beaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cReaders \u2014 especially my readers \u2014 want to come and see Nantucket. They may be here for a day, but they want to hit all the spots I talk about in my books,\u201d Hilderbrand, 55, tells me.<\/p>\n

To read a Hilderbrand novel is to be transported. That\u2019s her magic. Through the Nantucketer\u2019s words, I\u2019ve browsed summer tomatoes and corn at Bartlett\u2019s Farm,\u00a0 pedaled my 10-speed to Jetties Beach, danced all night at The Chicken Box, lowered my Jeep\u2019s tire pressure to drive on the sand.<\/p>\n

Tying in with the guide book is an actual Elin Hilderbrand\u2019s Blue Book Tour<\/a>, led by her sister, Heather Thorpe. (Love it.)<\/p>\n

I caught Hilderbrand in her natural habitat, fresh off a trip to L.A. where she visited the set of \u201cThe Five-Star Weekend,\u201d<\/a> her 2023 bestseller now being adapted into a Peacock series starring Jennifer Garner and Chlo\u00eb Sevigny. She was gearing up for a tour promoting her upcoming novel \u201cThe Academy\u201d<\/a> (Sept. 16).<\/p>\n

I can break some Elin news here: \u201cThe Academy\u201d \u2014 a dark academia co-written with her daughter Shelby Cunningham \u2014\u00a0 is already in development for TV, Hilderbrand tells me. In September, she says Peacock\u2019s upcoming adaptation of Hilderbrand\u2019s \u201cThe Five-Star Weekend\u201d will film on Nantucket. You can also catch her in Boston for a few events in October, including the Boston Book Fest<\/a>, she tells me.<\/p>\n

We talked island must-stops, her growing list of film and series adaptations (yes, plural), her next novel, and summer reading picks. Bonus: you can get your book signed. Hilderbrand signs copies every Wednesday from 11 a.m. to noon at Nantucket\u2019s Mitchell\u2019s Book Corner<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Interview has been edited and condensed. <\/p>\n

Boston.com: So \u201cThe Blue Book\u201d started off as a section in your novel \u201cThe Hotel Nantucket.<\/a>\u201d You said readers carried the novel with them as a guide. What are some new 2025 spots you listed in this book?<\/p>\n

Elin Hilderbrand: Straight Wharf Fish<\/a> is my new favorite. I love it there. It\u2019s the ideal clam shack, but elevated<\/a>. It used to be a fish market. They\u2019ve turned it into this super cute restaurant [with] a deck, counter where you can go in and get things to go, or there\u2019s a sit-down.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Also, on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, my sister started leading the \u201cElin Hilderbrand Blue Book Tour<\/a>.\u201d People can hop on the bus, she narrates and tells stories. They go by places mentioned in my books. It ends at The Chicken Box<\/a>. It\u2019s really cute and authentic.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s awesome. One village that piqued my interest from your \u201cBlue Book\u201d description is Sconset, which sounds lifted from a storybook.<\/p>\n

If you go now, the climbing roses are just probably hitting their peak. Most of the houses in the village are tiny \u2014 they look like little doll houses<\/a> \u2014 they\u2019re covered<\/a> with climbing roses<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019d say it\u2019s like Disney World, except it\u2019s the opposite because it\u2019s so tasteful. They have gorgeous gardens and picket fences. The tiny village fronts the water. There\u2019s a teeny, tiny commercial center. It\u2019s painfully cute.\u00a0<\/p>\n

People who live there are very protective. I live on the other side of the island, and I feel like [laughs] I\u2019m trespassing because they are very protective.<\/p>\n

You write that Cisco Brewers<\/a> \u201cis a whole thing.\u201d For people who might only know the Boston Cisco Brewers, what\u2019s the Nantucket space like?<\/p>\n

The parking lot borders a farm. Some months there are fields and fields of flowers. The brewery is made of three barns \u2014 one for wine, one for beer, one for spirits. There\u2019s a brick courtyard, picnic tables, live music, food trucks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the ultimate apr\u00e8s beach place to chill. Have a cocktail, lobster rolls, oysters, listen to music outside with dogs and kids. It should not be missed.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tYour best New England summer starts here\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t5 things to do on Nantucket\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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From your novels, I\u2019ve fallen in love with Bartlett\u2019s. Characters are always biking there for tomatoes and corn. There\u2019s such a romance to it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s gorgeous. The flower fields are something out of a Renoir painting. You walk in, it\u2019s a big market with an enormous greenhouse. They have every plant known to man. The market has tomatoes, this enormous crib of corn, lettuce, home-grown vegetables, fresh herbs, buckets of cut flowers. They do prepared foods \u2014 that\u2019s where I get my lobster salad. They make homemade pies. I always keep a pie at home for the kids.<\/p>\n

Another spot I love from your novels: The Chicken Box.<\/a> The dive bar where so many characters end their nights.<\/p>\n

The Chicken Box is the one place that the Elin Hilderbrand Blue Book tour stops. They go around on the bus, see the spots mentioned, then end at The Chicken Box for a Champagne toast \u2014 which is so funny because you\u2019d never drink Champagne there. It\u2019s a dive bar. I drink wine almost exclusively, but if I\u2019m at the Chicken Box, I\u2019ll get a Corona. There\u2019s no food, no chicken. They have live music, pool tables and darts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For beaches, you said you didn\u2019t want to give away your favorite, which I get \u2014 I wouldn\u2019t want to give mine away, either. Where would you recommend?<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s Point<\/a> is often closed until August, because the piping plovers nest. After nesting, it opens and I\u2019ll go every single day. You can drive on [to the beach] and choose whether you\u2019re on the ocean side with big waves or the south side that\u2019s calm. It\u2019s the only beach on Nantucket where you get both.<\/p>\n

\"\"If people have one day, what restaurant would you recommend?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s hard. If it\u2019s a beautiful sunny day, go to Sandbar at Jetties Beach<\/a>: open air, sand, fantastic food. For dinner, my favorite restaurant is The Nautilus<\/a>, but you can\u2019t get in. [laughs] It\u2019s small and so popular. If you want a fancy sit-down French Riviera feel, Galley Beach<\/a> is amazing.<\/p>\n

You retired last year from writing your Nantucket-set novels. What sparked that choice?<\/p>\n

Two things. One: I was running out of material and didn\u2019t want to repeat myself. Two: the schedule I was keeping was brutal. I thought to myself, \u201cWhy am I still doing this?\u201d I wanted to retire while the books were still good. Best thing I ever did. And there are lots of other people writing summer books.<\/p>\n

What summer books would you recommend now?<\/p>\n

\u201cMansion Beach\u201d by Meg Mitchell Moore<\/a> is set on Block Island. I\u2019ve never been to Block Island, but now I want to go. It\u2019s meticulously described. \u201cFar and Away\u201d by Amy Poeppel.<\/a> It\u2019s a house-swap book, sort of like Nancy Myers\u2019s [film] \u201cThe Holiday.\u201d It takes place in Dallas and Berlin. So charming.<\/p>\n

You also blurbed a book I loved: Amity Gaige\u2019s \u201cHeartwood<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Loved it. Amity\u2019s novels are next-level. \u201cHeartwood\u201d is a masterpiece.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t20 best beach reads for summer 2025\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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Tell me about \u201cThe Academy.\u201d It\u2019s an adult novel, dark academia, co-written with your daughter. You told me it would be set in Western Mass., at an exclusive boarding school.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yes. It\u2019s told from multiple points of view \u2014 the head of school, the teachers, the students. My daughter Shelby went to St George\u2019s School in Newport, so she had the lived-experience. She also read the novel for authentic voice, basically saying: \u201cNo one my age would ever say this, mom.\u201d<\/p>\n

[laughs] Right.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s set at fictional Tiffin Academy, a school that\u2019s seen better days. They were ranked 19th \u2014 suddenly, they\u2019re ranked 2nd. They can\u2019t quite figure out the enormous jump. People at other boarding schools are angry and start inquiring. Our Head of School is dealing with that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, everyone\u2019s dealing with the loss of a sophomore who [dies by suicide] in the [dorms.] It\u2019s not a YA book. It\u2019s an adult book.<\/p>\n

\"\"You just got back from LA, visiting a set of\u00a0 \u201cThe Five-Star Weekend<\/a>.\u201d That must\u2019ve been exciting.<\/p>\n

Thrilling. They built a Nantucket house and a Wellesley house, the two locations from the book. Jennifer Garner was with me, and Chloe Sevigny. We looked at the houses. The details are really spot on. I was very happy. It\u2019s shooting in LA now, with Jennifer Garner, Chlo\u00eb Sevigny, Regina Hall, Gemma Chan, and D\u2019Arcy Carden. They\u2019re going to film in Nantucket in September.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve got others in development.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c28 Summers,\u201d<\/a> \u201cThe Academy,\u201d my Paradise series<\/a>, the Winter Street<\/a> Holiday series and \u201cHotel Nantucket\u201d are all in development.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Oh my god. So you were born in Boston, raised in Pennsylvania, grew up summering in Brewster. How did you end up on Nantucket?<\/p>\n

I first came here in the summer of \u201893. I was living in New York City. Because I\u2019d grown up going to the Cape, I was familiar with the aesthetic. But Nantucket is just a little more special \u2014 it\u2019s harder to get to, it\u2019s smaller.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I was living in a share-house; it wasn\u2019t fancy. My roommate taught me how to cook; we went to all these restaurants. I bought a 10-speed bike and rode to the beach to read all day. I walked to The Chicken Box. My boyfriend had a Jeep\u00a0 \u2014 we\u2019d put the top down, watch the sunset, grab sandwiches. Everything about that summer was very romantic. I moved here permanently in the summer of 1994. I\u2019d fallen in love with all of it.<\/p>\n

Lauren Daley is a freelance culture writer and regular Boston.com contributor. She can be reached at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>. She tweets @laurendaley1<\/a>, and Instagrams at @laurendaley1<\/a>. Read more stories on Facebook here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Profile\t<\/p>\n

Lauren Daley is a longtime culture journalist. As a regular contributor to Boston.com, she interviews A-list musicians, actors, authors and other major artists.<\/p>\n

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