Elin Hilderbrand on the books that changed her life

When you think of a quintessential book to read on a beach, chances are you are thinking of a title that may have been written by American author Elin Hilderbrand.

Known as the “queen of beach reads,” Hilderbrand is the author of 30 books, including The Five Star Weekend, which was adapted into a TV series starring Jennifer Garner, and The Perfect Couple, which was adapted for a series starring Nicole Kidman. She has a degree in Creative Writing and an MFA in English from the University of Iowa’s Writer’s Workshop.

Nantucket was the backdrop for most of her novels, until now. She’s left the island behind in her latest book The Academy, which she co-wrote with her daughter, Shelby Cunningham.

Hilderbrand joined Antonio Michael Downing on The Next Chapter to talk about working with her daughter and the books that shaped her life and writing career.

Franny & Zooey by J.D. Salinger

Hilderbrand’s first pick was Franny & Zooey by J.D. Salinger.

She said she first read the book at 15 or 16 years old. She noted that most people read The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger in high school but, for her, his book Franny & Zooey had a greater impact.

“I was growing up in suburban Philadelphia and this whole Manhattan world, this family of seven genius children living in this Brownstone, the parents who were vaudevillians, the whole thing was so intriguing to me.”

Hilderbrand said that the precision of Salinger’s writing left her in awe.

“That was the starting point,” she said, noting that she found it hard to connect with the characters in most of the other books she was reading at that point in her life, so reading a book where she could really feel connected to the people on the pages was powerful.

The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje

“There are some books in your life that you remember where you buy them and you remember where you read them,” Hilderbrand said.

She said that she remembers backpacking through Southeast Asia with her boyfriend at 25 and reading books that she found in hostel bookswaps.

“I would have a book and I would swap it out. All of the reading that I did in those five months, I was at the mercy of what other people had left behind,” she said. However, she really spoiled herself and bought a new copy of Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient.

“I’ll tell you what, it delivered every amount of joy for twelve dollars. I wasn’t in any of the places that he was writing about but we then went to Bali from Singapore, so I read the book in a little fishing village off the coast of Bali,” while her boyfriend was spearfishing.

“I was transported to North Africa, to the Italian villa where the English patient was recovering, to the nurse, to the thief. His characters were amazing. His storyline was exotic and unlike anything I had ever read before and because I was also traveling I really connected with it.”

The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood

“Next, another Canadian, is The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood,” Hilderbrand said, “and my hot take is that The Robber Bride is Margaret Atwood’s masterpiece.”

She remembers reading the book while living in New York City, teaching. “I was instantly absorbed. It’s one of my top ten favourite books of all time, as is Franny & Zooey, as is Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient.”

“The Robber Bride is about a woman named Zenia who haunts and has infiltrated the lives of three other women. They all go to college together and she wrecks the relationships of all three of these women. They think she is dead at the beginning of the book and then they are all out to lunch and she walks into the restaurant, and they are losing their minds.”

“The meticulous, beautiful specificity of detail in creating the characters, the three women, and their relationships, their history and then moving the plot forward. I just can’t describe… it is just such a brilliant, relevant piece of literature. I am in awe.”

“As far as female friendship goes, this is the definitive book. Nobody has done it better.”

Luster by Raven Leilani

“The last book is called Luster by Raven Leilani,” Hilderbrand said. “It came out in 2020, so I read an advance copy. I had a trip planned to Thailand in February of 2020, so let’s all think about that for a second.

“I went to Thailand and I had the advance copy of his book. It was pitched to me by her publisher as ‘sexually disruptive’ and I was like ‘I don’t even know what that means but I’m in. Let me read this.'”

“It is such a wild ride,” she said. “It is so beautifully written, inventive, fresh, original, modern, and I thought to myself ‘this is exciting for me.”

What she found so amazing about the book, she said, was that someone half her age “could write a first novel that would so deeply impress me. I was so excited that literature can still take me by surprise.”

Comments have been edited for length and clarity.