Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand

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(Hardcover)

Average Customer Rating: Customer Rating for this product is 5 out of 5 (16 ratings)

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  • Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
  • Pub. Date: July 2007
  • ISBN-13: 9780316018586
  • Sales Rank: 3,644
  • 416pp
 
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Synopsis

It's summer on Nantucket, and as the season begins, three women arrive at the local airport, observed by Josh, a local boy, home from college. Burdened with small children, unwieldy straw hats, and some obvious emotional issues, the women--two sisters and one friend--make their way to the sisters' tiny cottage, inherited from an aunt. They're all trying to escape from something: Melanie, after seven failed in-vitro attempts, discovered her husband's infidelity and then her own pregnancy; Brenda embarked on a passionate affair with an older student that got her fired from her prestigious job as a professor in New York; and her sister Vickie, mother to two small boys, has been diagnosed with cancer. Soon Josh is part of the chaotic household, acting as babysitter, confidant, and, eventually, something more, while the women confront their pasts and map out their futures.

Publishers Weekly

Hilderbrand's sixth novel heaps on the trauma as a substitute for realistic connection in this heady mix of beach house, cancer, affair and mom lit. Connecticut housewife Vicki, diagnosed with lung cancer, has packed up her two kids for a chemo-commuting summer at the family's Nantucket cabin; sister Brenda, a newly minted high-powered assistant professor, has just been fired for having an affair with one of her students; Vicki's best friend, Melanie, newly pregnant, has discovered her husband is cheating. The three hit the tarmac of the tiny island airport, where they run into home-for-the-summer Middlebury senior Josh Flynn, who has a summer job there that he hates. Hardened cliché Brenda pines for her stereotypically weathered Australian lover. Melanie is a chronic complainer until she romances grim aspiring writer Josh, whom she has run into again and brought on as the house babysitter. (Josh thinks his old girlfriend should "locate her center" and "operate from a place of security.") Of the three women, only the suffering, stubborn Vicki, who keeps a list of "Things That No Longer Mattered" and cries when she can't seduce her visiting husband, draws readerly sympathy. There are some tender moments in Hilderbrand's latest beacher, but others are as irritating as sand in your swimsuit. (July)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

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Biography

Elin Hilderbrand lives on Nantucket with her husband and their three young children. She grew up in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, and traveled extensively before settling on Nantucket, which has been the setting for her five previous novels.Hilderbrand is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the graduate fiction workshop at the University of Iowa.

Customer Reviews

Number of Reviews: 16
Average Rating: Customer Rating for this product is 5 out of 5
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Customer Rating for this product is 5 out of 5 Women and Relationships and relationships with each other
A reviewer, A reviewer, 08/26/2008

I usually like non-fiction, but I thought I would try this for the summer. It was a great summer read. I could almost smell the air. It reminded me of Sex and the City. Especially the Brenda/Samanth, Melanie/Charlotte connection. I am now looking for another book by the same author to finish the summer off.

Customer Rating for this product is 5 out of 5 Fantastic Summer Read
A reviewer, a bedtime reader..., 08/19/2008

A wonderful heartwarming story about the bonds between women. Tough to put down and easy to read. Highly recommended

Also recommended: Currently reading another Elin Hilderbrand book that is equally as good

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