There are some tender moments in Hilderbrand's latest beacher, but others are as irritating as sand in your swimsuit. (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. Barefoot: A Novel that reflects upon the characters of Brenda Lyndon, sister to Vicki Lyndon Stowe and friend of Melanie Patchen and the experiences they share with each other during their retreat outside of their busy life. 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. Elin Hilderbrand writes an insightful novel about three friends and their relationship that has taken them back to Nantucket. Hardened cliché Brenda pines for her stereotypically weathered Australian lover. 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. 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. 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.
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