{"id":389166,"date":"2025-09-01T12:15:24","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T12:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/389166\/"},"modified":"2025-09-01T12:15:24","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T12:15:24","slug":"the-best-elin-hilderbrand-books-her-top-10-novels-ranked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/389166\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best Elin Hilderbrand Books: Her Top 10 Novels Ranked"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summer may be ending soon<\/a>, but for Elin Hilderbrand<\/a> fans, affectionately known as “Hilderbabes<\/a>,” the season lives eternal. The prolific author has more than 20 titles dedicated to the warmest months of the year that will instantly transport you to the sandy beaches of Nantucket<\/a>, where the water is clear, the culture is rich, and the views are downright \u2018Gram-worthy.<\/p>\n

The only problem? Trying to choose just one Elin Hilderbrand book. The author\u2014dubbed “the Queen of the Beach Read<\/a>“\u2014has written 30 novels over her career that spans over 25 years. However, in a 2021 interview with the Associated Press<\/a>, she first teased her plans to step back from writing, and, in 2024, she confirmed<\/a> that she would no longer be crafting books solely set on Nantucket. While 2024’s Swan Song<\/a> was her last title in the beach read genre, her upcoming book, The Academy<\/a>, which she co-wrote with her daughter Shelby Cunningham and is set to hit shelves on September 16, will mark her next chapter.<\/p>\n

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As Hilderbrand put it best in an essay for Oprah Daily<\/a>, “These books will provide a look at Nantucket\u2014and at the notion of an \u2018American summer\u2019\u2014in the first quarter of the 21st century.”<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

In honor of the next phase in Hilderbrand’s career, and our love for all of her feats thus far, we went ahead and ranked her 10 best books. So, kick back and prepare yourself for plenty of surf, sand, and sunshine\u2014these are the best Elin Hilderbrand books for reveling in the season.<\/p>\n

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\"The\n<\/p>\n

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10. ‘The Identicals’ (2017)<\/p>\n

This one\u2019s like The Parent Trap for adults. It\u2019s about two twins living totally opposite lives who wind up switching places after being estranged for more than a decade. And maybe\u2014just maybe\u2014after walking the 11 miles that separate them in the other twins\u2019s shoes, they\u2019ll find more common ground than they ever thought possible. (Spoiler alert: They do.) <\/p>\n

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\"Barefoot\"\n<\/p>\n

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Barefoot is the book that put Hilderbrand on the map. While she wrote five novels before its release, none of them landed quite like this poignant tale about three women who travel to Nantucket for the summer to escape their lives, which seem to be falling apart in different ways. According to Hilderbrand, it was her publisher\u2019s move to embrace Barefoot as the \u201cbeach read\u201d that it is, ultimately leading to her meteoric success. \u201cThey just started taking off from there,\u201d she said<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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\"Silver\n<\/p>\n

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Where do you go when your life has been shipwrecked through no fault of your own? If you\u2019re Meredith Martin Delinn, whose husband Freddy is found to have defrauded an angry group of rich investors, the answer is Nantucket with your estranged best friend. She may not be able to right Freddy\u2019s wrongs, but she can right a few of her own, both with her bestie Connie and with herself.<\/p>\n

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\"Summer\n<\/p>\n

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7. ‘Summer of ’69’ (2019)<\/p>\n

Hilderbrand takes her first stab at historical fiction<\/a> with Summer of \u201869, which is set in a very different Nantucket than the one we\u2019re used to seeing her modern-day characters stroll the beaches of. This Nantucket is one whose visitors and residents are immersed in thoughts of war, civil rights, and space exploration as they navigate life both on and off the island during what Hilderbrand has hailed \u201cthe most tumultuous summer of the 20th century.\u201d <\/p>\n

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6. ‘The Five-Star Weekend’ (2023)<\/p>\n

Picture this: an invite to revisit the most important friendships<\/a> from every era of your life…only it’s a total disaster. That premise is a peek into The Five-Star Weekend, which sees recently widowed food blogger Hollis Shaw taking a trip down memory lane with one of her friends from her teenage years, one from her 20s, one from her 30s, and another from midlife\u2014all together, in the same weekend. We recommend reading this one fast, before the television adaptation<\/a> starring Jennifer Garner<\/a> hits Peacock<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"The\n<\/p>\n

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5. ‘The Perfect Couple’ (2018)<\/p>\n

The Perfect Couple<\/a> is so good that it received the attention of Nicole Kidman<\/a>, who not only starred in its Netflix<\/a> adaptation but also served as one of its executive producers. Following a young couple that’s set to be married at the groom\u2019s wealthy family estate<\/a>, the novel quickly turns from a love story to a thriller<\/a> when an unspeakable crime is committed the night before their wedding. Suddenly, the wedding party has all become suspects, and the bride and groom\u2019s fairytale nuptials have morphed into a dark nightmare. <\/p>\n

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\"Swan\n<\/p>\n

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Aptly named for Hilderbrand\u2019s own literary farewell, Swan Song also mirrors the author\u2019s life of sorts. \u201cOne of my recurring characters<\/a>, Police Chief Ed Kapenash, is retiring\u2014the story details one last case for Ed (a fire and a missing person!) and one last hurrah for me,\u201d she explained in an Oprah Daily essay.<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, it\u2019s one of Hilderbrand\u2019s highest-ranked novels on Goodreads<\/a>\u2014she designed it to be that way. \u201cI want to be the morning star, brightest at the end of my career, right before I \u2018disappear\u2019\u2014or (wink, wink) move to a different part of the sky,\u201d she wrote. <\/p>\n

Fair warning? This one\u2019s so touching it even made Hilderbrand cry: \u201cThe ending is really, really poignant and bittersweet.\u201d <\/p>\n

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\"The\n<\/p>\n

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3. ‘The Hotel Nantucket’ (2022)<\/p>\n

There are plenty of things that can go wrong with the restoration of the old, rundown Hotel Nantucket without adding a ghost to the mix\u2014but that\u2019s exactly what its new owner, Xavier Darling, has on his hands. The 19-year-old chambermaid who was killed there in a decades-old fire still haunts its halls, and combined with the pressure to succeed, the complex relationships between the hotel staff, and the hotel\u2019s reputation, Xavier may have gotten more than he bargained for. <\/p>\n

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\"Golden\n<\/p>\n

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Hilderbrand went far beyond the shores of Nantucket with this one\u2014she went straight up to the heavens. Protagonist Vivian Howe is a novelist who has just been killed in a hit-and-run accident. Now, she\u2019s spending one final summer watching her loved ones from above, with just three chances to steer her kids in the right direction as their lives unfold. Once her chances are used up, her family will be on their own\u2014and she’ll be forced to let go. <\/p>\n

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\"28\n<\/p>\n

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The Hilderbabes have spoken: 28 Summers takes the Nantucket cake. Fans on Goodreads<\/a> and Reddit<\/a> almost unanimously named this the best book in Hilderbrand\u2019s catalog, and by a landslide, too. The storyline is complex: Link receives a phone number from his dying mother that connects him to a man whose wife is running for president. Now, Link is tasked with figuring out how his mother knows this well-to-do stranger, whose life is far more intricately entwined with his own than he ever could have guessed. <\/p>\n

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Author Elin Hilderbrand poses in front of her bookshelf.<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Emily Mentes for The Washington Post via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

How to read Elin Hilderbrand\u2019s books in order<\/p>\n

You can read Elin Hilderbrand\u2019s books in several different ways.<\/p>\n

You can go in the order that she published them, which would be as follows: The Beach Club<\/a> (2000), Nantucket Nights<\/a> (2002), Summer People<\/a> (2003), The Blue Bistro <\/a>(2005), The Love Season<\/a> (2006), Barefoot<\/a> (2007), A Summer Affair<\/a> (2008), The Castaways<\/a> (2009), The Island<\/a> (2010), Silver Girl<\/a> (2011), Summerland<\/a> (2012), Beautiful Day<\/a> (2013), The Matchmaker<\/a> (2014), Winter Street<\/a> (2014), The Rumor<\/a> (2015), Winter Stroll<\/a> (2015), Here\u2019s to Us<\/a> (2016), Winter Storms<\/a> (2016), The Identicals<\/a> (2017), Winter Solstice<\/a> (2017), The Perfect Couple<\/a> (2018), Winter in Paradise<\/a> (2018), Summer of \u201869 <\/a>(2019), What Happens in Paradise<\/a> (2019), 28 Summers <\/a>(2020), Troubles in Paradise <\/a>(2020), Golden Girl<\/a> (2021), The Hotel Nantucket<\/a> (2022), Endless Summer<\/a> (2022), The Five-Star Weekend<\/a> (2023), Swan Song<\/a> (2024), The Blue Book<\/a> (2025), and The Academy<\/a> (2025).<\/p>\n

You can also read them by topic. Currently, Hilderbrand has four different series available. There\u2019s the Winter Series, which includes Winter Street, Winter Stroll, Winter Storms, and Winter Solstice; the Paradise Series, which consists of Winter in Paradise, What Happens in Paradise, and Trouble in Paradise; and the Academy Series, which is so far limited to the author\u2019s upcoming September 2025 novel of the same name. (Hilderbrand revealed in a 2024 essay for Oprah<\/a> Daily that a second novel will follow.)<\/p>\n

Hilderbrand\u2019s remaining 25 books bear no official series name, but are all classified as \u201cSummer books\u201d on her publisher\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Get exclusive access to fashion and beauty trends, hot-off-the-press celebrity news, and more.<\/p>\n

What is Elin Hildebrand’s best-selling book? <\/p>\n

Hildebrand\u2019s team keeps her individual book sales figures relatively close to its chest, which means her best-selling book of all time is not publicly known.<\/p>\n

That said, her website<\/a> cites Summer of \u201969 as her first novel to debut at No. 1 on The New York Times Best Seller list, with USA TODAY<\/a> reporting 2022\u2019s The Hotel Nantucket as her second No. 1 hit. <\/p>\n

According to CBC,<\/a> she has sold 20 million books overall worldwide.<\/p>\n

Why is Elin Hildebrand not writing anymore?<\/p>\n

Hilderbrand explained her decision to retire from writing her “summer books” in a 2024 essay for Oprah Daily. \u201cI am retiring for my readers\u2019 sake,\u201d she wrote. \u201cI live in fear of repeating myself, and of the quality of my books slipping. I never want anyone to pick up my latest novel and say, \u2018She\u2019s lost it.\u2019\u2026Or even \u2018This just wasn\u2019t as good as the last one.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

She elaborated in a 2024 podcast<\/a>, saying, “I’m stopping writing these books because, frankly, I am out of ideas. Nantucket is small. I’ve covered every part of the island, every festival, every time of year…I’ve gotten to the bottom of the well.”<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Hilderbrand chose her literary legacy over riches. \u201cI have called my decision to retire the ‘purest’ decision I have ever made,” she wrote. “The standards I keep for my body of work are more important [than money and fame].\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to being creatively challenged, Hilderbrand also said that she wanted to spend more time with her family. \u201cI…find myself with kids in their early 20s and late teens who still (thank goodness) want to hang out with me, and I want nothing more than to be a full-time parent to them in these precious years before they move out and start their own families,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

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\"liev\n<\/p>\n

Liev Schreiber and Nicole Kidman in The Perfect Couple season 1.<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Netflix)<\/p>\n

Which of Elin Hilderbrand\u2019s books are being made into movies? <\/p>\n

In addition to The Perfect Couple, which premiered on Netflix in September 2024, Hilderbrand told Boston.com<\/a> that several of her other novels are in the works with different networks, including The Five-Star Weekend, which is currently in development with Peacock. (Jennifer Garner<\/a> and Chlo\u00eb Sevigny are set to star<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

The novelist revealed that Swan Song, the entire Winter series, and 28 Summers had all been optioned as of June 2024, with the latter slated for movie development by MRC Film<\/a>. \u201cI can be as involved or as uninvolved as I want to be on those,\u201d Hilderbrand shared.<\/p>\n

Deadline<\/a> reported in March 2025 that Swan Song would be the basis for the second season of The Perfect Couple, albeit with a new writer at the helm. According to the outlet, leads Leslee and Bill Richardson will be “spiritual successors\u201d to Kidman and Liev Schreiber\u2019s characters of Greer and Tag Winbury.<\/p>\n

In 2021, Winter in Paradise was also announced<\/a> as in development with ABC and Ellen Pompeo, while Warner Bros. TV optioned the rights<\/a> for The Hotel Nantucket in 2022. However, little news has been shared about either project since then.<\/p>\n

Why Trust Us <\/p>\n

Marie Claire\u2019s editors and writers are some of the most voracious readers around (present company included). There\u2019s an entire section<\/a> on MC dedicated to our love of the written word. It’s chock-full of book rankings<\/a>, news on our fave authors<\/a> (why yes, we have scoured the internet for every possible detail about the upcoming Netflix adaptation of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo<\/a>), writer Q&As<\/a>, and reviews on the titles our editors loved best.<\/p>\n

In short? We\u2019re not only devouring books at a breakneck pace, we\u2019re dissecting every little detail about them (which is precisely why and how we have our pulse on the literary juggernaut that is #Booktok<\/a>).<\/p>\n

In some cases, we\u2019re even writing them ourselves (shoutout to Marie Claire\u2019s digital director, Jenny Hollander, whose debut novel was published<\/a> in 2024).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Summer may be ending soon, but for Elin Hilderbrand fans, affectionately known as “Hilderbabes,” the season lives eternal.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389167,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3938],"tags":[3444,77,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-389166","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115128993631684798","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}