The Rumor: A Novel by Elin Hilderbrand (Little, Brown and Company, $28.00, 384 pages)
“How do you know all this?”
“How does anyone know anything?” Rachel said. “I heard it on the street. People are talking.”
Oh, dear, you can feel trouble brewing! Grace, the avid gardener and her husband, Eddie, the relentless Realtor, are the parents of beautiful twins, Hope and Allegra. Madeline, the novelist and best friend of Grace, is desperately seeking an idea for her next novel. This mix becomes a recipe for, dare we say it, gossip.
A rumor surely must be the fastest mode for broadcasting information on Nantucket Island. Five main characters in The Rumor – Grace, Eddie, Hope, Madeline and the island herself, take turns sharing their points of view of the happenings from April through August. These year-round inhabitants have a culture all their own. The information spread among the tightly knit coterie moves like wildfire.
Summers on Nantucket Island are legendary, full of idyllic days spent frolicking on the pristine beaches and enjoying the party atmosphere encouraged by vacationers escaping city life. Author Elin Hilderbrand (The Matchmaker, Summerland, Silver Girl, The Island), herself a resident of the island, presents yet another peek into the lives of the rich and not-so-rich island dwellers. By page 200, The Rumor bursts into full-blown chaos taking on a life of its own. Connoisseurs of the “summer beach novel genre” will devour her latest offering.
Well recommended.
Ruta Arellano
A review copy was provided by the publisher.
You can read a review of Summerland: A Novel by Elin Hilderbrand here:
https://josephsreviews.wordpress.com/2012/08/20/a-summer-place/
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