Book Review: The Castaways

By Melissa Patafio

This past September, my husband and I were getting ready for a trip to Cape Cod and Nantucket when a friend of mine suggested I pack a couple of Elin Hilderbrand books. The author, who lives on Nantucket Island, sets all of her books there. I had seen them in bookstores and was always hesitant to read them. I can’t say why I felt that way, but I did. So when a big box of books arrived from Melissa A., I was surprised to see that “The Castaways” by Elin Hilderbrand was amongst them. I threw it into my carry on and pretty much forgot about it until we were leaving Nantucket to go back to the cape. When I finally pulled out the book and settled into my beach chair, I quickly became engrossed in “The Castaways.”

Tess and Greg MacAvoy, Phoebe and Addison Wheeler, Andrea and The Chief Kapenash, and Delilah and Jeffrey Drake are a close knit group of friends living on Nantucket Island and named themselves “The Castaways”. Just before the beginning of another perfect island summer, Greg and Tess drown when their boat capsizes as they sail to Martha’s Vineyard for their anniversary. The news devastates the rest of the group, as well as the couple’s two young children, and they all set out to figure out what really happened. Did Greg drown Tess? Were they drunk? Was it really just an accident? Nothing can prepare the group for what secrets will be revealed.

As the grief sets in, one by one the characters start to reveal their deepest darkest secrets and I quickly learned how dysfunctional the group really was. This story is filled with love, emotion, grief, infidelity, anger, regret, jealousy, and betrayal. I literally couldn’t put it down and finished it in less than two days. The plot stays exciting, the characters all have their own voice in the book, and the amount of secrets and scandal creates a perfect blend. I am so glad that I gave this book a chance, I found a new author to love and I have since just finished my second Elin Hilderbrand book!