Golden Girl

Elin Hilderbrand is a popular author American author with more than 20 million books sold worldwide (“Elin Hilderbrand Explains Why She’s Retiring from Writing Summer Beach Reads.” CBC News, 2024). She has been a published writer since her senior year of college, with her short story, “Misdirection,” appearing in Seventeen Magazine (“About Elin Hilderbrand.” Elin Hilderbrand, 2024). Hilderbrand published her first novel, The Beach Club, in 2000 and has since penned 30 novels and several short stories. Golden Girl, published in 2021, has many canonical references from across her entire oeuvre and also features numerous autobiographical elements.

There are references to characters that appear in Hilderbrand’s other books set in Nantucket, the most prominent of which is Ed “The Chief” Kapenash. The Chief, who plays a significant role in Golden Girl as he works to uncover the truth behind Vivi’s death, appears in Hilderbrand’s other Nantucket novels, such as The Perfect Couple (2018) and Swan Song (2024), the latter of which sees him as one of the main characters. Relatedly, Amy and Dennis wonder what a Vivian Howe novel about them might be titled and throw out “The Leftovers” and “The Cast-Asides” as suggestions; The Castaways (2009) is indeed a Hilderbrand title, another one in which the Kapenashes make an appearance.