Elin Hilderbrand on Her Final Nantucket Summer Book

The Book Review

The New York Times

Books, Arts

4.2 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 7 June 2024

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For many years now, Elin Hilderbrand has published a novel every summer set on the island of Nantucket. With her 30th book, 'Swan Song,' the bestselling author says she will step off that hamster wheel and try something new. On this week's episode, she and host Gilbert Cruz talk about her career, what she's reading, and what's next.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Gilbert Cruz editor of the New York Times Book Review and this is the Book Review
0:07.0	podcast. It's June which means we're right on the precipice of summer.
0:12.5	And every summer, for at least a decade,
0:15.1	I have read one of Ellen Hildebrands
0:17.3	Nantucket Set novels.
0:19.4	Silver Girl, Golden Girl, Endless Summer, 28 Summers, Summer of 69, the list goes on and on.
0:27.0	Often, when I tell people this, they react in surprise, perhaps for obvious reasons.
0:32.0	I'm a man and Hildebrand's books are primarily consumed by female readers.
0:37.0	I work at the Fancy New York Times Book Review,
0:40.0	and Hildebrand's books are marketed as Romance Heavy Beach reads.
0:44.4	And you know what, all of that is true.
0:46.5	But one of the wonderful things about books, of course,
0:49.9	is the way they allow us to be other people, live in other places, have different concerns than
0:55.6	the ones that occupy our day-to-day lives.
0:59.4	And you know what?
1:01.2	Once a year, maybe I want to be someone who lives on a fancy New England island, drinks a lot of Sansear,
1:09.6	gets embroiled in drama and jealousy and tragedy, all before finding some semblance of peace by the time
1:16.0	Labor Day rolls around.
1:18.0	I'm not the only one who desires these things, of course.
1:20.6	Hildebrand has been a best-selling author for many many years now.
1:24.0	Her latest release is her 30th novel and her final summer one for now.
1:29.0	It's appropriately titled Swan Song. Ellen, welcome to the Book Review Podcast.
	...

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