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Elin Hilderbrand’s Here’s to Us Is the Perfect Summer Read
Elin Hilderbrand’s Here’s to Us centers around the death of Deacon Thorpe, a famous celebrity chef who leaves behind a lifetime of secrets and pain. But while Deacon took up the spotlight for most of his life, in the aftermath of his sudden and tragic death, it is his wives and children who must grapple with his loss—and with each other, as they all travel to the Nantucket house for one final goodbye.
First and foremost, I fell in love with all of these characters, as did the famed chef. Hilderbrand has drawn complex and charismatic women who are all so different from one another, save one common flaw: they all loved Deacon Thorpe. Laurel, his first wife, high-school-sweetheart, and mother of his first child, Hayes; the girl who saved him from the misery and loneliness of high school without his parents after they both abandoned him. Belinda, the movie star who gave him his first taste of fame and fortune—and with whom he adopted Angie, who would one day become his right hand in the kitchen. And Scarlett, the nanny who cared for Angie while he was married to Belinda and who became his eventual third and final wife.
Needless to say, these women are not happy about the prospect of enduring one another’s company at the Nantucket house, a place they individually lay emotional claim to but technically, all three of them now own. In the wake of Deacon’s death, his best friend Buck has realized that Deacon’s crushing debt, drug and alcohol abuse, and philandering has left behind one big problem: even though he left the house to all three women, there’s no money left, and save a miracle, it’ll be repossessed.
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The perfect mingling of forward action (Laurel’s attraction to Buck; Angie’s torment over a married lover and temptation for a man she meets on the island; Hayes’ struggles with addiction) with excerpts from the past (how Deacon made his name; how he and Belinda first met; he and Laurel’s reconnection after their divorce) make for an engrossing read, as each chapter contains more revelations than the one before. Every character has demons to wrestle and feels, in their own way, responsible for Deacon’s death. Had Laurel and Deacon gotten back together after his divorce from Belinda, would he have lost his way? Had Hayes not asked his father for money to support his own habit, would Deacon have been able to keep afloat?
These questions echo the ones we all ask ourselves in moments of doubt—but Hilderbrand balances the tenor of tragedy with sweetness and humor, in the form of recipes from Deacon himself, sprinkled throughout the text like his memory. If you’re a foodie, you’ll find your mouth watering with some of the descriptions of perfect summer meals like clams casino dip (the dish that made Deacon famous), shellfish stew, berry crumble, and more.
Here’s to Us grapples with issues such as parental abandonment, infidelity, infertility, adoption, addiction, race, and more, with depth and ease. By the end of the novel, the characters we have come to love get their Happily Ever Afters, but not in the way they first envisioned them when their stories began. The lesson is clear: Deacon’s greatest dish was not his clams casino, nor his time on television, nor his famous friends. It was the love he had for other people, especially his children. Determined to forge a legacy for himself that was different from that of his father, the man who left him, Deacon gave everything he had to his children—and it is for them that the beautiful house on Nantucket, the one place they all felt at home, must be saved.
Fans of delectable summer reads and romances with a touch of tragedy will love this latest Hildebrand novel, a perfect companion for a sunny summer morning and a bowl of something sweet.