Yahoo Lifestyle 'The Perfect Couple' Author Elin Hilderbrand Says She Might Not Be Retiring After All
Elin Hildebrand, the bestselling author of 30 novels, among them a series of beach reads set on the island of Nantucket, is celebrating the end of summer with the release of her first book as a Netflix limited series, The Perfect Couple, premiering on Sept. 5.
“This is the first one making it to screen,” Hildebrand tells Parade in this exclusive interview. “I’m thrilled, obviously. They’ve done such a good job and it’s taken 24 years. But I have to say, if you told me that it was going to take 24 years, but this was going to be the result, I would have said, I’m in because the cast is so, so good, the director, the showrunner and everybody.”
With Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber headlining the series as wealthy Nantucket-ites Greer, a famous novelist, and hubby Tag Winbury, Hildebrand's patience definitely was worth the wait to see her murder mystery unfold on screen at the Winburys' posh island home just before the wedding between Amelia Sacks (Eve Hewson) and their son (Billy Howle).
Greer, who is not a fan of her soon-to-be daughter-in-law, has spared no expense in planning what promises to be the premiere wedding of the season—until a body turns up on the beach. As secrets come to light, the stage is set for a real-life investigation that feels plucked from the pages of one of Greer’s novels and everyone is a suspect.
During Parade's chat with Hildebrand, she gave us her take on perfect couples, talked about her role as an executive producer on the Netflix series, how important it was to have Nantucket represented accurately, her final Nantucket-set book Swan Song, writing a new genre with her daughter, and more.
Photo Credit: Beowulf Sheehan
The Perfect Couple was your 21st book, but your first murder mystery. Why the dive into something different at that point?
I had already written so many books and at that point, they’d all been set on Nantucket, and I wanted to do something different. And so, I thought, “All right, I’m going to try my hand at a murder mystery.” And I have to say that it did not go well. I turned in the first draft to my editor, Reagan Arthur, and Reagan normally would give me a long email full of editorial notes, and then I just go about my revision.
And this time, when I sent it to her, she said, “Can you please call me?” And I thought, “Oh dear, what has happened?” So, I called her, and she said, “I love so many things about this book, but the wrong person dies.” Because in the first version of the novel, it’s the bride who dies.
I said, “Well, who should it be?” And she said, “Oh, it should be Merritt, the maid of honor.” And as soon as she said that, I thought, “That’s exactly what’s wrong with this.” She’s exactly right. And so, I rewrote the whole book in six weeks with Merritt dying.
Related: A Beginner's Guide to Nantucket, the Northeast's Most Charming Island
Having mentioned that you had to make that change, will there be a lot of changes for the series?
There were a good number of changes when they made the series, but I haven’t seen anything. All I’ve seen is the teaser trailer. I haven’t even seen the real trailer. So, I guess I’m at an advantage because I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but if you haven’t read the book, there are changes from the book.
And the way I felt about that was that I watch so much television, so much good prestige TV, that I wanted them just to make the best television show, and I wasn’t really concerned about it being the same as the book. And so, I said, “Whatever you guys need to make the best show, please do it and make the changes.” People can always go back and read the book, and they can enjoy that as a separate piece of art. But I wanted the TV show to be really compelling.
When you write, you describe characters. But what is it like to actually see them brought to life?
It’s amazing. It’s mind-blowing. I went to set twice. It was shot in Chatham on the Cape, on Cape Cod. The mind-blowing thing was that the production was so huge. It involved so many moving parts. There were like 80 or 90 people on the ground in their headsets, and these enormous trucks with these huge lights that could make it look like it was the middle of the day, even when it was nighttime, and all of these incredibly accomplished and famous people acting in it. And so, it was surreal. And I thought, “I can’t believe this all started with me in my kitchen where I was writing it.” It was crazy.
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What did you say when you found out that Nicole was going to be playing Greer? Because Greer is like you in that she’s the author of her 21st book in this.
Isn’t that funny? Well, I did that intentionally. I was so excited. I mean, are you kidding me? She’s the best actress of our time. She’s absolutely the No. 1, and who wouldn’t want her? And she’s such a draw. It will go down in history that she was just the finest actress of our time. So, of course I was thrilled, yeah.
And Liev, oh, my God. I love Liev. Love, love, love. It’s so funny because I wrote the novel in 2017, and I was very heavily into my Ray Donovan days. So, it was a dream come true to have Liev do it.
You have an executive producer credit, but you’re not involved with the writing. How do you see your job? Are you an advisor in some capacity?
My main job was to answer all the questions about Nantucket. I’ve lived on Nantucket for 30 years year-round. I raised my children here, and I wanted Nantucket to be done correctly and authentically. So, Jenna Lamia, who wrote the show and was the showrunner, she had a lot of questions about place names and the way that we refer to Nantucket, just on island, off island, like going down to the boat, different things about the island. So, I answered all those questions for her.
From watching several of your interviews, you dress what I would consider beachy. So, I’m assuming that things like that also came into play in your role as advisor.
Absolutely. I was very clear. Nantucket, although it’s a very wealthy summer resort, everyone’s very understated here and very old-fashioned, old-school. It’s always less is more on Nantucket. I gave Jenna style notes. People here drive old, beat-up Jeep Wagoneers. That would be the classic Nantucket car. We’re not driving fancy, expensive things here.
The older, the more beach stickers it has on it, the more authentic it is. That is what makes it really Nantucket-y. And there’s a pair of pants that men wear called the Nantucket Reds that come from a particular store here on Nantucket called Murray’s Toggery. And the older your Reds are, and the more beat up they are, the more authentic they are. So, it was things like that that Jenna and I went over.
It’s interesting that you mention the cars because I live in LA, so we don’t have major weather issues as far as cars are concerned, but I’m assuming with the salt water and all that, that the cars get beat up even if they’re not that old.
Exactly. And we also drive on the beach. To drive on the beach, you have to have a special sticker. And so, it’s all of those things that maybe other people wouldn’t necessarily know about Nantucket. The aesthetic here is very much understated, well-worn, preppy.
Is there such a thing as a perfect couple?
Oh, definitely not. Anybody who tells you differently is lying. I think there are a lot of really inspiring couples and couples that we can all look up to, but there is no such thing as a perfect couple. That was the main point of my book.
So, in the novel, Celeste’s parents have been married a long time—since high school, and they feel like the perfect couple. And then there’s a reveal, like two-thirds of the way through, and you’re like, “Oh my goodness, I can’t believe that.” We learn something about them that we did not know. And so, I do not think there’s such a thing as a perfect couple.
Photo Credit: Seacia Pavao/Netflix
One aspect of the book that you did draw from personal experience is the mother of the bride, who has stage four breast cancer, which is something that you lived through. Why put it in this particular book?
It was basically timing, and also, it worked with my plot. I was diagnosed in 2014. I was treated through 2015. And so, by the time I started writing this in 2017, I was two years past my treatment, and I felt OK to write about it because I knew I was going to end up being fine. And also, it worked for my narrative. The narrative is that Celeste’s mother is sick and that really plays a big part in the plot.
Word is that you are done writing about Nantucket. Swan Song, which came out in June, will be your final Nantucket book. So, with a title like Swan Song, it seems to be perfect that it’s your final book about Nantucket. But what’s the story that works with that title?
The title basically comes from the fact that one of my recurring characters, Ed Kapenash, who’s the chief of police, he’s retiring, which is like a nod and a wink to my own self retiring. And so, he gets one last case, in which there’s a fire and a missing person, and it’s his swan song. And then, of course, the novel with the fire and the missing person is my swan song. So, swan song had a meaning within the book, but it also had a meaning in my life.
It’ll be sad to put these characters to rest, you know.
I know. Well, never say never. I just really need a break, and this is the break, and then I may come back and do something on Nantucket down the road, but for now, I’m saying goodbye.
But you’re not done writing, per se?
Not done writing. My daughter and I are writing two novels set in a New England boarding school, and the first book will come out next September.
What’s it like writing with Shelby?
It was humbling. She’s 18 and she thinks I’m a dinosaur. She was constantly saying, “Oh, my God, mom.” She’s reading my part and she’s like, “I’m cringing. No one my age talks like this. You’re such a boomer.” So, yeah, it was humbling, but it was also extremely fun and satisfying. We had a great time, and really, it was tremendous.
Dinosaur in the aspect that you write longhand and not on a computer, or in the choice of language for the younger characters.
She wrote on the computer. I wrote longhand. She thought I was a dinosaur because of how I had the character speaking and the things I had them doing, she was like, “Kids my age, we don’t...” I can’t give you a good example but it was apparently very embarrassing.
Are you looking for a new audience writing with your daughter?
Yeah, I think we are. I’m going to be very clear. It is not a YA book. It is an adult novel, but I think we are looking to get slightly younger readers and more Gen Z readers. There have been boarding school books—I’m Gen X and we read A Separate Peace and then we read Curtis Sittenfeld’s Prep. And then there was, of course, Harry Potter for the millennials. Gen Z hasn’t really had their boarding school novel. And so, we’re hoping this will be it.
Which book do you think we’re going to see next on the screen?
I couldn’t say. The Five-Star Weekend is in development, and that has the pilot script, so we’ll see how that goes. And then my novel 28 Summers has a script that’s with a movie company. So, we’ll see how that goes. Everybody’s waiting to see how The Perfect Couple does. And Hollywood is reactive. So, a lot of times, if it’s a big success … I think my phone has already started to ring, but my agent has been very smart, and savvy, and just said, “Just hang back and wait and see how The Perfect Couple does.” And then, hopefully, everything else will follow. My Winter Street series is being developed by the same showrunner, Jenna Lamia, who did The Perfect Couple, so I’m excited about that possibility.
The Perfect Couple is streaming on Netflix.
