Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    The Castaways: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The Castaways: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The Castaways: A Novel
    Audiobook12 hours

    The Castaways: A Novel

    Written by Elin Hilderbrand

    Narrated by Katie Hale

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Greg and Tess MacAvoy are one of four prominent Nantucket couples who count each other as best friends. As pillars of their close-knit community, the MacAvoys, Kapenashes, Drakes, and Wheelers are important to their friends and neighbors, and especially to each other. But just before the beginning of another idyllic summer, Greg and Tess are killed when their boat capsizes during an anniversary sail. As the warm weather approaches and the island mourns their loss, nothing can prepare the MacAvoy's closest friends for what will be revealed.

    Once again, Hilderbrand masterfully weaves an intense tale of love and loyalty set against the backdrop of endless summer island life.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHachette Audio
    Release dateJul 7, 2009
    ISBN9781600246234
    Unavailable
    The Castaways: A Novel
    Author

    Elin Hilderbrand

    Elin Hilderbrand lives on Nantucket, has three children and is the author of 27 novels, including SUMMER OF ‘69.  Elin met Dottie in the spring of 2017 at the annual Post & Courier luncheon in Charleston and Elin says, “It was love at first sight.” The two authors proceeded to meet on Nantucket every chance they got and they texted and emailed non-stop. They dreamed of doing a joint cooking show called “Cook the Books,” where they would invite a third author on to make a signature dish for each episode. They also talked about a cookbook called “The Southern Belle and the Gray Lady.” Elin’s summer of 2020 novel, 28 Summers, is dedicated to Dottie and Dottie makes a cameo appearance in Elin’s summer of 2021 novel, Golden Girl. “I will never again have a writer friend like Dottie,” Elin says. “Those of you who knew her understand what I mean, and those of you who didn’t will just have to trust me. They broke the mold.”

    More audiobooks from Elin Hilderbrand

    Related to The Castaways

    Related audiobooks

    Contemporary Romance For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Armchair Angler

      Jul 9, 2019

      America’s Favorite Flies By John Bryan and Rob Carter Charles Creek Publishing America’s Favorite Flies is likely the longest, most collaborative love letter to fly-fishing in the sport’s long history. The prodigious book pairs full-page spreads of a

      3 min read

    • Article

      A Beachcomber’s Bounty

      May 28, 2020

      A Beachcomber’s Bounty
      4 min read

    • Article

      A Clearing Of The Head

      Oct 30, 2023

      by Bill Nelson (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $30) The narrator has been injured in a cycle accident. He wants to clear his head by going rural. His grandmother, now ailing, quarrelsome and in a nursing home, has given up her rural house and far

      2 min read

    • Article

      Poem Of The Week: The Diomedes By Matthew Hollis

      Oct 9, 2023

      The Diomedes Summers he would sail for Alaska working the crabbers as deckhand or galley; autumns returning with old-weather stories of clam catchers, fur trappers, and the twin isles of Diomede: two miles and a continent between them; and how,

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Realities Of Island Life

      Jun 13, 2020

      Pabay: An Island Odyssey Christopher Whatley Birlinn, 2019 320 pages Hardback, £20.00 ISBN: 9781780275796 Small islands can have a big influence. As places to visit, to escape to, or to own, they exert a powerful attraction. Island life certainly car

      3 min read

    • Article

      Links In The Chain

      Sep 18, 2022

      Links In The Chain
      2 min read

    • Article

      A Family Affair

      May 27, 2021

      A Family Affair
      6 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Oct 14, 2019

      In this gripping account of the sinking of the passenger liner Oceanos, which sailed from East London on 3 August 1991, author Andrew Pike unravels the complexities that led to the calamity, and paints a picture of extraordinary valour in treacherous

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Deep Blue Sea

      Jan 23, 2022

      The Deep Blue Sea
      1 min read

    • Article

      Dredge

      Aug 19, 2021

      Dredge
      1 min read

    • Article

      True Confessions From The Ninth Concession Storm Of The Century

      Aug 5, 2019

      A Canadian is the only person who stands out on the veranda on a bright, warm, windless spring day, as the birds sing and the buds burst, and says darkly, “We’ll pay for this.” One payback moment came a few years ago when I was trying to get to thre

      2 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Nov 5, 2020

      £9.99 Draca is a Bristol Channel pilot cutter: strong, beautiful and haunted. Rather like fantasy author Robyn Hobb’s ‘liveships’ Draca is more than a boat but is she ultimately the villain or the victim of this complex tale? The novel’s background i

      1 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Feb 1, 2024

      After a violent response to a blog urging fellow yachtsmen to follow COVID guidelines, Nick Ardley wondered whether he’d ever seek publication again. Then he had his #MeToo moment and decided that victims of bullying should not be silenced. He also w

      1 min read

    • Article

      The Print Maker

      Feb 11, 2022

      There’s no better way to observe birds and wildlife than from the back of a sailing boat, says printmaker and illustrator Angela Harding. Sitting on deck in the River Deben in Suffolk, in the early mornings or at the end of the day, she’ll watch seal

      6 min read

    • Article

      Merry Movies

      Dec 18, 2020

      This fantasy film offers a new twist on Charles Dickens’ novel A Christmas Carol and the classic festive season movie It’s a Wonderful Life (1946). Miserly businesswoman Regina Fuller (The Good Fight’s Christine Baranski) returns to her hometown afte

      2 min read

    • Article

      Wandering Eyes

      Aug 25, 2022

      Wandering Eyes
      1 min read

    • Article

      Metre Maid In Heaven

      Sep 6, 2019

      Metre Maid In Heaven
      2 min read

    • Article

      Party of 40

      Mar 3, 2019

      Party of 40
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Great Pilot Cutters

      May 25, 2023

      The Great Pilot Cutters
      3 min read

    • Article

      Called To The Wild

      Aug 21, 2022

      Called To The Wild
      2 min read

    • Article

      Against The Flow

      Feb 10, 2021

      Against The Flow
      6 min read

    • Article

      Raindance

      Mar 2, 2018

      Raindance
      4 min read

    • Article

      Raindance

      Feb 15, 2018

      Raindance
      4 min read

    • Article

      Great Reads

      Feb 17, 2022

      Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series

      2 min read

    • Article

      Read This!

      Jul 28, 2022

      By Lucy Lethbridge Bloomsbury; £20 A fascinating study of the emergence of the UK’s travel industry, from the end of the Napoleonic Wars through to the package holiday boom and on to the Instagram era, taking in tour guides and guide books along the

      3 min read

    • Article

      Time, Lumber And Care

      Feb 10, 2023

      Time, Lumber And Care
      8 min read

    • Article

      Shared Joy

      Oct 2, 2019

      THERE ARE TWO Kylies who make things happen in the Yantabulla district of far north-west NSW — Kylie Baty and Kylie Fisher. In fact, these two women are absolute powerhouses, selflessly pushing through all sorts of restraints to benefit our community

      2 min read

    • Article

      A Heavy Heart

      Aug 18, 2020

      A Heavy Heart
      3 min read

    Reviews for The Castaways

    3.5/5

    254 ratings35 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Ms. Hilderbrand writes about relationships and the secrets we keep. An engaging book that I couldn't put down - each character was likeable and flawed, the storyline was just complex enough but, not too deep and her writing was fast-paced.
    • 5/5
      On the picturesque island of Nantucket - just off of Cape Cod, Massachusetts - rumors always tend to flow fast and furious. In such a close-knit, yet isolated community, everybody soon gets to know everyone else's business. For eight best friends - the Kapenashes, the MacAvoys, the Drakes, and the Wheelers - four prominent couples within their tiny community; secrets usually don't stay secret for very long. And even the most innocuous of meetings can raise suspicions.When the charming and talented music teacher, Greg MacAvoy, spends a rainy Sunday night with a beautiful high school senior named April Peck - the curiosity and rumors begin. Although Greg loves his wife Tess deeply, and has been happily married to her for over a decade; he just can't seem to shake the speculative whispers of: 'What happened between Greg MacAvoy and April Peck?' The community rumor mill begins churning, and speculation is sent swarming around the island like tourists on Memorial Day.With all the rumors floating around, the stress is beginning to show in the MacAvoy marriage. The troubled couple has begun experiencing an incredible amount of strain within their relationship - and all that strain has subsequently taken an enormous toll on Tess - who is dealing with her own issues. She is torn between her love for her husband and keeping a secret of her own.With their twelfth wedding anniversary fast approaching, the MacAvoys decide to celebrate by spending some quality time on their sailboat. So the couple sets out on their anniversary trip to Martha's Vineyard, hoping to rekindle the romance in their marriage - confident that the roughest waters are behind them. Yet, all of the MacAvoys' dreams of a brighter future are soon dimmed by an inexplicable tragedy.When the heartbreaking news eventually reaches the shores of Nantucket, the entire community is rocked to its very foundations. Greg and Tess have mysteriously drowned in a boating accident, leaving behind their two small children. Their closest friends - the Kapenashes, the Drakes, and the Wheelers - are absolutely devastated by the sudden loss of the MacAvoys.For as long as anyone can remember, the four couples have done everything together. They have vacationed and celebrated together; confided in and depended on each other. However, tragedy tends to reveal both the best traits and the worst traits in people. Losing Greg and Tess so unexpectedly has reawakened long-simmering conflicts and brings deeply-buried emotions bubbling to the surface. The six friends, still reeling from their feelings of grief and denial, set out to answer the ultimate question: 'What happened to Greg and Tess MacAvoy?'A page-turning story of passion and suspense, The Castaways: A Novel is a poignant exploration of the boundaries of friendship and forgiveness. This is an extraordinary portrayal of love, loss and acceptance - playing out against the evocative backdrop of the summertime perfection of life spent on Nantucket. A masterful story which highlights so much of what makes Elin Hilderbrand a hallmark best-selling author.I must say that I absolutely loved this book. In my opinion, this was such a well-written story; it was filled with a certain amount of suspense and mystery, as well as believable characters and a thoughtful, well-developed plot. This was just the type of story that I usually enjoy reading, and I will definitely be putting Ms. Hilderbrand's name at the top of my wish list. I give this book an A+!
    • 4/5
      my first book my this author, but i will be reading more!!! a group of four couples, close friends who are like family and call themselves "the castaways", live on the island of nantucket. one couple tragically dies in a boating accident and the rest of the group struggles to make peace with it. Each of them feel guilty and responisble and handle their grief in different ways. A beachy romance and mystery!!!
    • 5/5
      Good light read of four couples, friends for over a decade. When one of the couples are killed, the impact and the involvement of them with the other three couples comes to light. Well written, easy reading....good beach read.
    • 4/5
      Three close couples on Nantucket deal with the sudden deaths of their friends, a fourth couple. Secrets abounds. Bolsters my belief that we never truly know what happens inside the bounds of anyone else's marriage.
    • 2/5
      I really did not enjoy this book. It was about 4 couples who are long time friends. The premise was interesting - what happens to a group of friends when two of them die in an unexpected accident. Unfortunately, the book became more about the intertwining relationship - who had dated who, who had contemplated affairs with who, who had non-frienship-based feelings for who. The book became about these underlying issues not the aftermath of the crisis itself.
    • 3/5
      The perfect beach read! Chick Lit with some substance, but with a reasonably happily ever after ending. Four couples have been friends for years. They vacation together, they have a 'no gifts' rule to keep those with less money from feeling out of sync from the wealthier couples. They call themselves "The Castaways." They have different talents, different jobs, but their pasts as well as their present relationships are intertwined beyond what is visible up front. Tess and Greg drown while sailing on their 12th wedding anniversary. How each of the remaining members of the group deals with the puzzle of the death, and the grief and guilt each is feeling forms the basis of the story.Hilderbrand tells the story from the point of view of each of the six remaining. It could have been complicated, but the technique works really well. We get to meet each member of the group, we see what motivates them, and we are led inexorably to the conclusion that forms the climax of the book. It's not great literature, but it's a pleasant read sure to appeal to those who like realistic characters, some mystery, some romance set in a great beach area.I both read and listened to this one. I had a chance to pick up the audio before my ARC arrived, and I had begun listening to it. I found this was one book that worked well in both formats...I was able to go back and forth between the two, and I think it actually helped me keep the players straight (they were a bit hard to follow at the beginning, but Hilderbrand did a good job of fleshing them out quickly.)
    • 4/5
      A tragedy, a mystery and 4 couples who seem to be best friends. There were enough twists to keep my attention but some of the side plots grew tiresome.
    • 3/5
      As was reading this book, and I was on page 300, I realized I still didn't know the answer to the question "what actually happened on the boat, and how did they die"? It was interesting, how the remaining six of the group called the Castaway had a part in the story. The first part of the book, I was confused by all the characters, but I am glad I kept reading. Great author and a great book.
    • 3/5
      The lives of 4 couples from start to current state told through memories and self realizations after the untimely and slighty shady passing of one (couple) of their own. With enough descriptive talent used to make one want to visit Nantucket if not move there, and enough emotion shared in the various accounts of days gone by.....it is easy to see how this author has obtained their following. Although I enjoyed the book overall....for me, in a sentence....the story was too "grown-up"; I cared about the characters and their lives, but the ending left me a little high and dry. Still, certainly a good fit for a tad longer beach read....perhaps to pull out on one of those laid back partly cloudy days of tranquility so hard to find nowadays.
    • 4/5
      Summer is one of the most perfect times of the year. It's warm out, the sun is shining bright (hopefully) and everyone seems to be in a great mood! Longer days means that there is more time to be outside and in general the atmosphere seems much more relaxed. More relaxation means more time and more time means more gossip! THE CASTAWAYS by Elin Hilderbrand is a fun, mysterious and intriguing beach read. I know, those words don't necessarily always fit together, but in this instance, they do!Every group of friends will at time encounter heart-warming moments and heartbreaking ones. The Castaways, is the name that Greg and Tess, Addison and Phoebe, the Chief and Andrea, and Jeffrey and Delilah have given their little group. The eight friends have been together through thick and thin, marriage and divorce, life and loss. Things haven't always been pretty but the friends have somehow managed to stick together. They rely on each other, surviving by leaning on each other during tough times.How will they survive, when suddenly two of their number are no longer there to lean on?In the beautiful environment of Nantucket, disaster strikes when something happens and the boat that Greg and Tess took out to sail is found capsized. The couple is discovered underneath, dead. They leave behind two young children and six distraught friends. Tears are shred while anger begins to boil over. As The Castaways grieve, mysteries unfold and lies are discovered, threatening to tear the group apart. Can The Castaways survive it or will the death of the beloved Greg and Tess mean the death of the entire group and everything they have built together?Elin Hilderbrand once again brings us into the world of intrigue and mystery that she creates in Nantucket, the beautiful island with an endless summer. What I absolutely love about this story is the way that Hilderbrand can create a story so full of suspense and yet one filled with love and hope. THE CASTAWAYS is the story of a group of friends torn apart and shredded to bits. Yet, through each other they find ways to piece their lives back together. Hilderbrand shows us what it means to grieve when lives end, signaling the end to an era and the beginning of another.Present day activities mix with the past as Hilderbrand expertly uses back-story to explain the inner workings and deep mysteries of The Castaways. There are times when she devotes pages to showing us what happened in the past and there are other times that she gives us the details slowly, letting us savor every moment. The mix of the two creates a wonderful environment where the reader exists in both the past and the present. The transitions between the two are lovely and help to keep the story flowing beautifully.It is difficult to have a great story without great characters and Hilderbrand certainly delivers in THE CASTAWAYS. She goes into great detail, showing us how the relationships of the friends diverge and separate. Who loves whom, whose heart is really held by someone else. Half of the suspense in the book is trying to figure out who each person will become by the end of the book. Any tragic occurrence, like the deaths of two friends, are bound to change people and Hilderbrand uses this to her advantage. She creates layer upon layer with each character, adding depth to the person and to the story. There were times when the relationships got fairly complex. I almost felt that I needed to grab a pen and paper to jot down a few notes about each individual in order to keep them separate. This happened mainly in the beginning while we viewed each character as a part of the whole rather than their own individual. As the story progresses, however, oil separates from water and each person becomes their own. A connection forms between the individuals and the reader; it is no longer difficult to separate each person.Beautiful writing is what Hilderbrand brings to THE CASTAWAYS. Anyone can write a good gossip book about the darker areas that lie within a friendship, but Hilderbrand does so quite eloquently. Her style of writing is very clear and flows across the page. In order to keep things organized and make the story easier to understand for the reader, Hilderbrand gives each character their own section when the story moves to their point of view. These sections are titled with the individual's name to aid in the ease of reading. I thought this was a wonderful tough and one that made it much easier to transition from person to person in the mind. It allowed me to really connect with each person and be able to feel what they were feeling, see what they were seeing.THE CASTAWAYS was beautifully told with enough tension to pull the reader along without becoming overwhelming. There were a few instances where it was difficult to figure out the relationships between the characters and a few transitions where I had to reread in order to figure out what time frame we were in. That accounts for most of the less than ten scores found above. If you couldn't tell from my raving throughout this review, I absolutely loved the characters and the character development. Hilderbrand shows what it means to be a real person and gives her story that sense of realism; that section earned a perfect ten.I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a good gossip book. This is a book that makes you think, encourages you to feel and wonder at the world around you. It's beautiful, both in color and emotion and is a perfect read whether you want to curl up in your favorite chair with a blanket or lay out on the beach with your favorite towel.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book. I read it pretty much straight through.I was impressed from the beginning, when the 8 main characters were introduced in a way that allowed me to keep track of them. This is usually a challenge for me. All 8 of them were real people to me, with good points and flaws. I was very frustrated with some of the them at times, which shows the writing drew me in enough to care. I liked the way the story built and unfolded. I learned more about the characters, The picture of what happened to Greg and Tess continued to be revealed a little at a time, until we had the full story at the end. Primarily, this was a book about the characters. I think it succeeded well at this.
    • 4/5
      This is the story of four couples who are the best of friends. They go on vacations together, they have weekend get-togethers, babysit eachother's children, support eachother when it comes to their jobs, marital issues and just life in general. But when one of these couples (Greg & Tess) dies in a mysterious boating accident the remaining friends are all left devasted by the shock of their tragic deaths.Each chapter is written in the first person - each of the six remaining friends. With each chapter you learn more and more about Greg and Tess, their crumbling marriage and their hope to rekindle their flame with an anniversary picnic and sail. You also learn about the relationships of the three remaining couples, the Kapenashes, Drakes, and Wheelers , their affairs and pretty much their deepest, darkest secrets.I really enjoyed this. I liked reading about these couples that on the outside seem to have it all - money, beatiful houses on the idyllic Nantucket, the perfect husband/wife and children, yet were all so completely and utterly dysfunctional in their marraiges and lives. And although I really could not relate to any of the characters, I liked each and every single one of them. They are people living their lives and learning from their mistakes. They are all flawed in one way or another, but in the end I felt as if they tried to better themselves.... I felt hope for them.I was carried away by Ms. Hilderbrand's words. She weaves a tale of love, loss and friendship that is difficult to put down. This was an enjoyable and easy read and I recommend to anyone looking for a summer/beach read - but don't let the pretty cover fool you... it had a lot more depth then I was expecting.
    • 3/5
      The Castaways are a group of four couples that are very close friends - they all live on the island of Nantucket. When one couple (Greg and Tess) die in a boating accident, leaving two young children and a string of mysteries, the other three couples are left to deal with the tragedy each in his/her own way. As the circumstances leading up to their death become known it seems that Greg and Tess's lives were not as straight forward as their friends thought... The point of view moves between all the different characters and we get to know Greg and Tess and their circle of friends by the retelling of stories from their past. The Castaways took many vacations together and the story of their relationships weave in an out from past and present. It was an enjoyable read because there was a lot going on. With so many main characters there was plenty of scope for human drama and tragedy. I kind of expected the boating accident to be more than an accident, but the book turned out to be predominantly about relationships.
    • 5/5
      This was a great book and it reminded me of the movie, The Big Chill. It follows four couples after the death of their close friends. It is a growth book with shows the progressions of the characters and follows their grief. I really liked the authors writing style and thought the descriptions of Nantucket were awesome. This was a book that I had a hard time trying to put down.
    • 5/5
      This was an excellent offering by a talented author, one that explored the tough issues of love and loss and redemption through the eyes of a disparate cast of characters. Though we never meet Greg and Tess MacAvoy, they loom large over the narrative as their characters are revealed in snippets of memories. Each of the six main characters in The Castaways have a different vision of Tess and Greg, and only by combining all those different versions do their true personalities unfold.Well-written and deftly rendered, this story of adult relationships between friends, families, spouses and exes reflects the complicated reality of today's world. I was most impressed by the pacing of the various revelations and quality of the ending. I found the novel engaging and difficult to put down once I started. This is a must-read for the summer season. Highly recommended- 5 strong stars!
    • 4/5
      The Castaways are a group of eight friends who live on Nantucket. They take trips together, they drink and play Scrabble on Sunday nights, they are a very tight knit group of four married couples. The novel begins with the deaths of Tess and Greg the youngest of the four couples. The others recollections of the couple, secrets and guilt are intertwined with discovering why Tess and Greg died so tragically.For starting off with a death it was a bit slow going at the beginning. I had a lot of trouble getting into the story since the narrative kept shifting from one character to another. This continues throughout, but got less confusing as I became more familiar with each character and who they were married to. Many have described this as a soap opera of a story and I have to agree. This group of friends, all married and some with kids, was very incestuous. We have some having affairs, others lusting after their friends' spouses, one woman is an ex of one of the other husbands. Oh, and that isn't all the secrets they are keeping or all the drama they deal with.I really don't know how or why they considered themselves "the best of friends", because with the amount of cheating, lusting, keeping secrets and just being vindictive against the others, they do not resemble friends at all. Despite this, or probably because of it, I couldn't put the novel down once I figured it all out. Very addictive, just like a soap opera.
    • 5/5
      The Castaways are a group of four couples who stick together through everything. They started out as friends and ended up family. Greg and Tess are out on the water celebrating their 12 year anniversary and the other couples are proud that these two have decided to stick it out even though they've had a troublesome time with the affair that Greg is rumored to have had. When news hits that Greg and Tess are dead, it hits The Castaways like a ton of bricks. They feel that they have lost a part of themselves, but Greg and Tess left two small children behind. As they try to go on living their life, they think back to the fun times that they had and how their life will never be the same.I recommend this book to anyone who has ever cared deeply for another person.
    • 4/5
      Wouldn't you just love to be one of the people on the cover of THE CASTAWAYS? Lying barefoot on the beach, warm in the sun, lulled by the rhythmic surf. Well, be careful what you wish for -- life on Nantucket isn't always so relaxed and carefree, especially if you've just found out that your best friends are dead, maybe murdered. That's what each of the six people, three couples, telling this story are facing. Greg and Tess MacAvoy have drowned while sailing on their anniversary. Part of a group of friends who have nicknamed themselves the Castaways, Greg and Tess have been weathering some marital difficulties. Depending on whichever friend is at the helm of the story, this little boat trip could make or break their marriage. Andrea and Tess are cousins who grew up together on the mainland and are as close as sisters. When she was nine, Tess nearly drowned on a beach where Andrea worked as a lifeguard and since then Andrea feels especially responsible for Tess. Andrea's husband, Ed, is the island's Chief of Police and has the unwelcome task of breaking the bad news to his wife, friends, and to Greg and Tess's 7-year-old twins. He also has the unpleasant task of delving deep in the private lives of his deceased friends in order to determine if their deaths were due to an accident or events more sinister.Jeffrey, though married to Delilah, still pines for Andrea, his former live-in girlfriend. Delilah, aware of Jeffrey's feelings, puts all her energies into raising their kids and being the group's party hostess and social director in an effort to ignore the holes in her marriage. Delilah wishes she could have been closer to Tess, but the strong bond between Tess and Andrea didn't leave enough room for her to wedge herself in.However, Addison and Tess have somehow managed to have a secret affair during the previous six months or so. It wasn't difficult to hide the affair from Addison's wife, Phoebe. She's been in a narcotic fog ever since her twin brother died in the World Trade Center attacks on 9/11. Addison wants Tess to divorce Greg and marry him. And why shouldn't she? Didn't Greg have an "inappropriate relationship" with an underage student? Or did he?Clearly, THE CASTAWAYS is about the muddy and murky relationships between and among the various characters comprising this tight-knit little group. Elin Hilderbrand does a wonderful job of giving voice to each of the distinctly individual personalities. Cast adrift by this sudden tragedy, each person examines their relationship to the deceased couple, their friends, and to their own spouses. As though illuminated by their grief, each becomes aware of the weaknesses in their marriages and friendships, where loyalties have failed and forgiveness is required. Whether these flailing castaways will recover is as much of a mystery as why Greg and Tess died.This is a complex and multi-layered story with a lot more depth than the laid-back book cover suggests. If you're looking for a satisfying summer read about love, marriage, and friendship, this is the book for you!
    • 2/5
      I really hate to say this when I had such high hopes for this book but I did not like it at the beginning and I did not like it at the end. I found it pretty ridiculous that these were supposed 8 best friends and yet they all are lusting or in love with one of the other friends beside their spouse. I also did not find any of the very likeable other than the chief and I thought the story was pretty predictable. I have to say I really admired Andrea's daughter stepping up to elp take care of Greg and Tess's children when everyone else was a mess.
    • 3/5
      With such a beachy cover, is it any wonder that this novel is being marketed as the perfect summer reading? But the light and sunny cover hides a much darker and more complicated story than you would expect.The novel opens with the Chief of Police on Nantucket fielding a call telling him that two of his friends (one, his wife's beloved cousin) are dead, having drowned in a sailing accident, leaving behind twin 7-year olds. Told in a round robin sort of format, the chapters tell how each of the six surviving extremely close friends not only grieve Greg and Tess' deaths but also tells each person's past history with the deceased. Through an examination of their relationships within this cluster of couples, the problems in the MacAvoy marriage are fully disclosed; their lives and loves, missteps and mistakes highlighted and scrutinized. But the book isn't just about Greg and Tess and the gut-wrenching effect their deaths have on this closely-knit group of friends, it is also a novel about surviving the imperfections and heart aches and everyday tragedies that dog everyone's life. It is about love and marriage and trust. It is about who we are through circumstance and personality.The Chief is solid and unshakeable, the epitome of a small town police chief. Andrea is the former athlete, the mother of the group and Tess' beloved cousin. Addison is the generous, wealthy one who has seemingly stood by his wife even when she is so medicated she is almost comatose. Phoebe has been numb, in the thrall of any pharmaceutical she can wrap her fingers around, since September 11 when her twin brother died in the World Trade Center attack. Jeffrey is the stolid, responsible farmer who has only loved two women in his life, the group caretaker. Delilah is the entertainer who used to keep the group animated and cheerful. But all six of them are more than these simple distilled truths. They are people grieving deeply and harboring a train wreck's worth of secrets from and about each other.Focused mainly on the six months immediately following the deaths of Tess and Greg, the two most immediately engaging members of the group, the book eventually spans the first year after the accident. But with the deaths of two, major cracks start to show in the friendships of the remaining members of "The Castaways." Delilah and Andrea seem locked in some sort of jealous power struggle for Tess' children and for her memory. Addison can't climb out of his grief at losing Tess, murkily certain that Greg has killed her to cover up a continuing affair (or non-affair) with one of his high school students. None of the friends seem to be capable of moving past the deaths except Phoebe, who manages to wean herself off the pills in the aftermath of the accident. Each of the characters in the book holds a small key to what really happened in Tess and Greg's marriage and therefore what was likely to have happened out on the boat. But for all their closeness (and it really borders on incestuousness--Andrea having lived with Jeffrey before marrying the Chief is only the most socially acceptable relationship between the friends here), none of them can share what they know and move forward until the very end of the book. However, the big scene at the end seemed too easy and pat for the messiness revealed throughout the rest of the book. The characters felt authentic in their grief and I appreciated that each character handled that grief differently and at his or her own pace but I wondered if the characters' flaws needed to be so great to earn them this grief. I was left thinking these people were a train wreck at which I couldn't help gawking. The story kept me reading along avidly, except for occasional moments when I would think, "I really don't want to read what I know is coming next." In the end, the book was fine if a little melodramatic and if you are looking for an easy, soapy sort of read for the summer, you'll find it in this, albeit a little less sunny than usual.
    • 5/5
      What an amazing book, I loved it! This author’s books are always a treat to read!
    • 5/5
      Great tour-de-force about grief and friendship.

      I enjoyed Hilderbrand's masterful ability to weave six narratives coherently together while slowly solving a puzzle left by the deaths of Greg and Tess.

      A great book for the beach!
    • 5/5
      I want to be a part of The Castaways crew; Four couples who form a lifelong friendship on Nantucket Island. When one of the couples endures a tragic accident secrets begin to unfold and histories revealed as they deal with grief. I loved every character in this book and felt personally connected to them by the end.I was thrilled to see some of these characters return in The Perfect Couple. Hilderbrand’s ability to build so many stories in the tight knit community like nantucket keeps me coming back!
    • 3/5
      The mystery component gave this book its backbone, otherwise it was pure soap opera. There were 8 characters (4 couples), and their stories were told in the present, as well as in the past, to help reveal what was going on in the lives of the couple that died. At first, it was difficult to keep everybody straight, but their personalities ended up being easily distinguishable. (I suggest taking notes, though.) Unfortunately, I never really connected with any of the 8, but didn't dislike any of them either.The Castaways is truly a drama-filled novel. It has all the makings for a solid soap opera, so if that's what you like - this is perfect! I was hoping for something more, but still thought it was okay. The mystery is what kept me engaged. In the long run, I liked Elin Hilderbrand's writing style and am curious about her other books.Originally posted on: Thoughts of Joy
    • 4/5
      Four couples’s eight friends living on Nantucket Island enjoying life together, traveling together, and watching their kids grow. Then the unthinkable happens and one couple tragically dies, leaving behind their 2 children and devastating the remaining 6 friends. As everyone comes to grip with their loss each one grieves differently and reflects on their history together. Secrets and remorse come to the surface; and they question what really happened to their friends on that last day. This is a book I’ve had on my shelf for years and I happened to pick it up just when my family is going through grief over our own tragic death of a loved one. The author has touched on all the aspects of love and loss and even survivors guilt. 4 stars
    • 1/5
      I just couldn't get through it. After 50 pages of "Tess and George are dead" I had to stop. This was my first Elin Hilderbrand book, and I really thought I was going to like it. I will give her another shot.
    • 4/5
      Great summer read! Have read all Hilderbrand's book and love her covers which draw you in! Greg and Tess MacAvoy are one of four prominent Nantucket couples who count each other as best friends. As pillars of their close-knit community, the MacAvoys, Kapenashes, Drakes, and Wheelers are important to their friends and neighbors, and especially to each other. But just before the beginning of another idyllic summer, Greg and Tess are killed when their boat capsizes during an anniversary sail. As the warm weather approaches and the island mourns their loss, nothing can prepare the MacAvoy's closest friends for what will be revealed.
    • 4/5
      my first book my this author, but i will be reading more!!! a group of four couples, close friends who are like family and call themselves "the castaways", live on the island of nantucket. one couple tragically dies in a boating accident and the rest of the group struggles to make peace with it. Each of them feel guilty and responisble and handle their grief in different ways. A beachy romance and mystery!!!
    • 1/5
      Inciting incident, check. Intricately interwoven characters, check. Conflict, no. So lots of storytelling, but not much in the way of friction between the characters. A long slice of life novel with a lot of character building flashbacks. Not for me, I think.