Take a bike like the rest of the islanders seem to use. Nantucket is always busy! With Brant Lighthouse in the background, this really is the place to relax, take a stroll and read a book (ie this one!) There is a crush of people on the wharf – those disembarking, those picking up house guests, tourists wandering the shops, hungry couple in search of lunch. In 1877 Edward Underhill from Wolcott, New York bought land in the village and constructed cottages in the fashion of the original fishing shacks and then rented them to summer tourists. Shell Street is a place of interest in the novel and Brenda’s favourite three words are Shell Street, Sconset. In the 19th century, there was a whaling station present in the village. The area of the island where the market and shops are located. “A summer on Nantucket was the answer all the way around.” There are some tender moments in Hilderbrand's latest beacher, but others are as irritating as sand in your swimsuit.Even from afar the island looks like a dream for a holiday! (Josh thinks his old girlfriend should 'locate her center' and 'operate from a place of security.') Of the three women, only the suffering, stubborn Vicki, who keeps a list of 'Things That No Longer Mattered' and cries when she can't seduce her visiting husband, draws readerly sympathy. Melanie is a chronic complainer until she romances grim aspiring writer Josh, whom she has run into again and brought on as the house babysitter. Hardened cliché Brenda pines for her stereotypically weathered Australian lover. The three hit the tarmac of the tiny island airport, where they run into home-for-the-summer Middlebury senior Josh Flynn, who has a summer job there that he hates. Connecticut housewife Vicki, diagnosed with lung cancer, has packed up her two kids for a chemo-commuting summer at the family's Nantucket cabin sister Brenda, a newly minted high-powered assistant professor, has just been fired for having an affair with one of her students Vicki's best friend, Melanie, newly pregnant, has discovered her husband is cheating.

Hilderbrand's sixth novel heaps on the trauma as a substitute for realistic connection in this heady mix of beach house, cancer, affair and mom lit.

Elin hilderbrand barefoot summary