The Love Season - by Elin Hilderbrand (Paperback)

About the Book

When Renata comes to Nantucket to visit her fiancee's family, she decides to also visit Marguerite, the godmother she's been forbidden to see her entire life--the one person who can unlock the mystery surrounding her mother's death.

Book Synopsis

Welcome to The Love Season--a riveting story that takes place in one day and spans decades; a story that embraces the charming, pristine island of Nantucket, as well as Manhattan, Paris and Morocco. Elin Hilderbrand's most ambitious novel to date chronicles the famous couplings of real lives: love and friendship, food and wine, deception and betrayal--and forgiveness and healing.

It's a hot August Saturday on Nantucket Island. Over the course of the next 24 hours, two lives will be transformed forever.

Marguerite Beale, former chef of culinary hot spot Les Parapluies, has been out of the public eye for over a decade. This all changes with a phone call from Marguerite's goddaughter, Renata Knox.

Marguerite has not seen Renata since the death of Renata's mother, Candace Harris Knox, fourteen years earlier. And now that Renata is on Nantucket visiting the family of her new fiancé, she takes the opportunity, against her father's wishes, to contact Marguerite in hopes of learning the story of her mother's life--and death.

But the events of the day spiral hopelessly out of control for both women, and nothing ends up as planned.

From the Back Cover

It's a hot August Saturday on Nantucket Island. Over the course of the next 24 hours, two lives will be transformed forever.
Marguerite Beale, former chef of culinary hot spot Les Parapluies, has been out of the public eye for over a decade. This all changes with a phone call from Marguerite's goddaughter, Renata Knox. Marguerite has not seen Renata since the death of Renata's mother, Candace Harris Knox, fourteen years earlier. And now that Renata is on Nantucket visiting the family of her new fiance, she takes the opportunity, against her father's wishes, to contact Marguerite in hopes of learning the story of her mother's life--and death. But the events of the day spiral hopelessly out of control for both women, and nothing ends up as planned.
Welcome to "The Love Season"--a riveting story that takes place in one day and spans decades; a story that embraces the charming, pristine island of Nantucket, as well as Manhattan, Paris and Morocco. Elin Hilderbrand's most ambitious novel to date chronicles the famous couplings of real lives: love and friendship, food and wine, deception and betrayal--and forgiveness and healing. Praise for "The Blue Bistro"
""The Blue Bistro" is a wonderful, wonderful love story, the kind that you read, then recommend to many many friends - and so, I recommend it to you. Highly." -James Patterson, bestselling author of "Beach Road"
"A wonderfully poignant behind-the-scenes journey into the world of high-end restaurants, island life, and the inner workings of the human heart. A great summer story." -Lolly Winston, author of "Good Grief"
Praise for "Summer People"
""Summer People" is striking not only for the ingenuity of its rivetingplot, but also for the acute sense of character and the finely tuned craftsmanship with which Elin Hilderbrand brings its every nuance to life." -Madison Smartt Bell, author of "The Stone That the Builder Refused"
Praise for "Nantucket"" Nights"
"What a perfect summer pleasure Elin Hilderbrand provides...mixing the complexities of family life and friendship with suspense, romance, and moonlit Nantucket nights." -Nancy Thayer, author of "Hot Flash Holidays"
"Things get more twisted at every turn, with enough lies and betrayals to fuel a whole season of soap operas....Readers will be hooked." -"Publishers Weekly"
Praise for the Booksense/NEBA Bestseller "The Beach Club"
"Elin Hilderbrand's first novel holds up as a surprisingly touching...work of fiction you're likely to think about weeks after you put it down." -"People "magazine

Review Quotes

"In a juicy peach of a summer tome, Hilderbrand again alchemizes her three favorite elements--food, love, and Nantucket--with eminently readable results....Season is so gratifying." --Entertainment Weekly (Grade: A-)

"[S]ummer fare that's a cut above the usual beach provisions...Hilderbrand, who wrote 2002's Nantucket Nights, serves up a mouth-watering menu, keeps the Veuve Clicquot flowing and tops it all with a dollop of mystery that will have even drowsy sunbathers turning pages until the very satisfying end." --People Magazine

"Hilderbrand's fifth book is a fulfilling tale of familial excavation and self-exploration....It's a refreshing, resonant summertime treat." --Publishers Weekly

"Hilderbrand's sensitive portrayal of a young motherless woman on a journey of self-discovery, and her guilt-ridden godmother's attempt to find the courage to confront the past, is very moving." --Booklist

"A good page-turner." --Library Journal

"As a storyteller, Hilderbrand ranks among the best, and she has ingeniously constructed this foray into the past around a meal....This is a don't miss novel." --The Star-Ledger (Newark)

About the Author

Elin Hilderbrand is the author of The Island, Nantucket Nights, Summer People and The Blue Bistro, among others. She grew up in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, and is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop, where she was a teaching/writing fellow. Her short fiction has appeared in Seventeen, The Massachusetts Review, and The Colorado Review. She lives with her husband, Chip Cunningham, and their two sons in Nantucket, Massachusetts.