The Identicals by Elin Hilderbrand
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I do love a good Elin Hilderbrand read: with tones that are quintessentially breezy, beachy, comedic, compassionate, amusing, and self-deprecating, her flawed but relatable characters stumble through life with the best intentions, understandable shortcomings, typically in the mesmerizing setting of Hilderbrand’s own Nantucket. I had somehow managed to not read his particular novel, for which I’m grateful, as in this non-traveling time, it was a refreshing gift to immerse not just in the world of Nantucket, but also Martha’s Vineyard. The author sets the stage as establishing these two storybook American islands as having their own personalities and feeling some degree of superiority against the rival other.
This metaphor also applies to our two main characters, Harper and Tabitha, two identical twins just shy of 40. Tabitha lives on Nantucket with her famous fashion designer mother. Harper resides on Martha’s Vineyard with her beloved hardscrabble dad, Harry. They both have problems: recently-single Tabitha finds herself hollowed out by her teenage daughter, an unmitigated hellion. And Harper’s unfulfilling and dramatic life is further upended when she’s outed for having an affair with the venerable local doctor. Then there’s this: since being split apart by their divorcing parents as teenagers, Parent Trap-style, the identical twins have suffered a fractured relationship that was really pulverized irreparably with the death of Tabitha’s infant son, and she still blames Harper for this tragedy.
When their father Billy dies, everything comes to a head. The sisters must face their broader families, each other, but most notably their own worst selves to work through a summer for the ages.
A fun read!
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