Back Bay Readers' Pick

2 total works

A Summer Affair

by Elin Hilderbrand

Published 1 January 2008

After the extreme heat of her Nantucket studio causes her to go into early labour and almost lose her youngest son, renowned artist Claire Danner Crispin now devotes her life to her four children, and her husband Jason.

But when Lock Dixon asks Claire to help organise the annual Nantucket Gala, she is given a new sense of purpose. Asked partly in the hope that she can persuade her school sweetheart, now a world-famous rock star, to play at the event, Claire is tempted by the challenge. On the brink of a decision that could threaten her marriage, she is in danger of becoming closer to Lock than either of them had intended . . .

Barefoot

by Elin Hilderbrand

Published 1 January 2007

When Vicki Stowe arrives in Nantucket for the summer with her two young sons, her best friend Melanie and her sister Brenda, she is hoping for peace, rest and comfort. Her mother always used to say that any ailment in the world - physical or emotional - could be cured by a little Nantucket sand between the toes. The three women need all the help Nantucket can offer: Brenda has just lost her prestigious job as a professor of literature; Melanie, who has been struggling for years to have a baby, has just discovered that she is pregnant - and that her husband is having an affair; Vicki herself has been diagnosed with cancer and is facing months of treatment. Although they have the best of intentions and plan to support one another while enjoying the summer, the women soon find life in a cramped cottage with only one bathroom not quite the idyll they imagined. When put-upon babysitter Brenda places a 'help wanted' ad, the three women find salvation in the form of Josh, home from college for the summer. Soon Josh is part of the chaotic household, acting as childminder, confidant and, eventually something more.