The Hotel Nantucket

Lizbet’s former partner JJ O’Malley is a chef who idolizes Mario Subiaco. Although he is a talented cook, Hilderbrand shows how JJ’s star starts to fall after his relationship with Lizbet ruptures, indicating that she was the chief reason behind his success.

Although JJ’s exchange of sexual text messages with wine representative Christina initiates the theme of Adultery and Betrayal in the novel, Hilderbrand juxtaposes his infidelity with the image of the cozy life they shared for over 15 years, “every minute” of which “felt like an investment in their future” (180). JJ seems like a down-to-earth guy with a tender, considerate side. He also shared Lizbet’s dream of a future with children and mourned her miscarriage. However, after this loss, he was unable to get through to Lizbet. They became estranged, and he “bulldozed the fortress” and began sexting with Christina (181).

While JJ claimed the sexts were a mistake and a distraction, his grand gestures to win Lizbet back are not enough. By the middle of the summer, she has truly moved on, and Mario has replaced him. The upgrade from one chef to his idol reflects the upward mobility of Lizbet’s life in other aspects, too.

Christina Cross is the wine representative at the Deck who JJ has been sexting. She is a vaguely-sketched character; however, we discover that she was once friendly with Lizbet and is obsequious to people in positions of authority, such as Mario. This sets her up as the foil to down-to-earth Lizbet.

Christina tells Lizbet that the sexts mean nothing, but she takes Lizbet’s place as front-of-house manager at the Deck. Her resentment towards Lizbet is evident when she refuses to help her find a table for a client. Her role as Lizbet’s foil deepens as she fails to excel in Lizbet’s old job; the Deck begins to fail, and Christina tearfully leaves Nantucket. Whereas Lizbet has the power of reinvention, Christina feels that she has no choice but to leave the island.

Septuagenarian British billionaire Xavier Darling is the impresario behind the Hotel Nantucket’s latest remodeling. He is tanned and formal and “exudes a confidence that comes naturally to the very wealthy” (307). While Xavier made his fortune in cruise ships, the hotel is a personal project that speaks to his competitive drive, as he aims to score the elusive five-key rating from Shelly Carpenter and finally convince Magda English to become his wife.

Xavier’s distance from the whole project—he has never been to Nantucket—means that he fails to bond with the place the way the summer-long staff members do. Instead, he regards it as an investment and is willing to dispense with the place when he earns Carpenter’s accolade and Magda rejects his proposal. His confidence is undercut by her rejection, and he is ultimately a selfish character with little concern for his staff.

Grace Hadley was 19 when she was a chambermaid at the Hotel Nantucket in 1922 and owner Jackson Benedict’s mistress. She died when she was locked in her fourth-floor attic room when Jackson’s jealous wife, Dahlia, started a fire. Grace has haunted the hotel for a century through its various management changes, as she seeks some reckoning or apology for her death. She thus embodies the theme of Redressing Past Hauntings.

Grace is invisible as a ghost, but she still has access to a sensual, fleshly presence, donning the hotel’s luxurious robes and having a crush on Zeke. She is also an activist, supporting those who are on the side of social justice and punishing those who are not. This is evident when she appears on Esmé’s phone screen, a high-school girl who body shames one of her peers, and when Grace defeats sexual predator Bone Williams so he does not assault Alessandra further. Grace also has an intuition that enables her to penetrate through to people’s souls and assess their openness and reliability. For example, while Lizbet is wholly taken in by Alessandra’s polished veneer, Grace feels that “there’s a stench coming off the woman that means only one thing: a rotten soul” (37). When Grace proves to be right in judging characters, she guides the reader in navigating the vast sweep of people who enter the Hotel Nantucket.

As her story becomes more well-known due to Wanda Marsh’s efforts, we see Grace move toward integrating into the hotel and making it her home as well as her haunting place. She becomes a “watchful, even nurturing, presence” for guests like Kimber Marsh, and in return, she feels so cared for by the space that she chooses to remain there, even when she no longer has to (358). Far from being a deterrent for the guests, Grace becomes a curiosity and a draw by the end of the summer.

Chef Mario Subiaco made his fame as Blue Bistro’s pastry chef, Nantucket’s best restaurant before its 2005 closure. His work there made him an idol to chefs everywhere, including Lizbet’s ex-boyfriend JJ O’Malley. He makes mouthwatering creations at the Hotel Nantucket’s Blue Bar, including an irresistible cocktail that he names Heartbreaker after Lizbet.

Behind a good-looking exterior that is alternately cocky and aloof, Mario hides an obsessive work ethic and a loyal heart. Despite his 46 years, he has only been in love three times. Lizbet and Mario, who are both at the peak of their creative potential and have intense sexual chemistry, are ideally matched. However, Lizbet, who is still insecure from her past relationship, must learn to accept a good thing when it comes to her. Lizbet’s journey in the novel as part of Redressing Past Hauntings is to see that Mario is not just another man who will let her down. Mario’s ability to wait for Lizbet instead of pursuing her aggressively shifts the focus to Lizbet’s character transformation.

22-year-old “sweet Edie” grew up on Nantucket with loving parents. She has “luminous brown skin” and exudes an aura of youth and eagerness (31). She is a natural fit for customer service, being delighted to help others and especially helpful with the Marsh children. Beneath Edie’s happy exterior lies the heartbreak of her father’s sudden death and her messy involvement with Graydon, a boy she met at the Cornell School of Hospitality. Graydon was insecure about Edie’s achievements at Cornell and began to demand that she perform in sexually humiliating videos. After Edie broke up with Graydon, he blackmailed her, demanding $500 at random times to keep the videos private. Although she is cash-strapped, Edie is naïve and insecure and feels that she has no choice but to comply. Over the summer, Edie learns to stand up for herself and become a more discerning judge of character. She finds inspiration in Lizbet and an unlikely ally in Alessandra, who makes it clear that what Graydon is doing is illegal. As she graduates to Alessandra’s job the next summer, it is clear that Edie has grown and is owning her worth.

With her “long, wavy apricot-colored hair” and effortless sense of style, 33-year-old Alessandra Powell exudes nonchalant sex appeal (37). Almost a decade of work at Europe’s best hotels has given her a continental aura that impresses everyone around her, and Alessandra knows how to draw attention to herself with eye crystals and an upside-down nametag. Still, behind her bravado, Alessandra is lost. While she did not want to be like her mother, Valerie, a woman who slept with men to rob them, she becomes a higher-class version, exchanging sex for privilege. This began with an affair with her high-school best friend Duffy’s father, who paid her way to Europe.

When Duffy shows up as a hotel guest with her new family, Alessandra realizes how little she has to show for her years of escapades. She determines to score herself a wealthy man, and over the summer changes her focus from Michael Bick, the married man she is having an affair with, to Xavier Darling and the hotel’s wealthy guests. While Alessandra’s actions with Michael cause a lot of hurt and ruin a family, Hilderbrand shows that the men are equally responsible. Alessandra also grows throughout the book, nurturing her colleagues and helping Edie thwart her blackmailer before leaving to start fresh in California.

Chadwick Winslow, son of billionaire Paul Winslow, seems to embody “a certain stereotype of wealth and privilege” with his immaculate looks and boarding school pedigree (54). Chad, who goes by the nickname Long-shot throughout the summer, wants to become a housekeeper to atone for an incident he can barely speak of. Eventually, the reader learns that Chad had a party and recklessly popped a champagne cork, half-blinding his friend Paddy, who comes from a less privileged background. Although Chad’s parents have not punished him, Chad will not rest easy until he has become the kind of hard-working, honest person Paddy is. His lack of reconciliation with Paddy indicates that Chad must do this for himself, regardless of the outcome. He tries to atone by working the worst jobs and doing everything in his power to ensure that his coworker, Bibi, is not framed for stealing. Bibi, a working-class young woman with a penchant for pretty things can stand on her own two feet, and Chad learns to redress his class prejudice.

59-year-old Magda English retired from working at XD Cruise Lines and is a secret millionaire following a casino win and smart investments. Like Chad, she has no financial need to work at the Hotel Nantucket but does so because she prefers to be occupied while she supports William and her nephew, Zeke.

Magda has a youthful appearance and a “delightful West Indian lilt” (33). She is also shrewd and discreet, with a clear idea of what she wants. Although Magda is the long-hidden secret lover whom Xavier Darling wants to impress, she has no qualms about turning down his proposal, preferring to keep him as a friend and casual fling. However, she is more scrupulous than him about keeping a much-beloved project alive, and she collaborates with Paul Winslow to buy the Hotel Nantucket and save everyone’s prospects. Magda respects the position of the hotel not just as an investment but as an important aspect of the community, which aligns with the theme of The Hotel As Exchange Hub.

Zeke is a novice bellboy and surfer who grew up on Nantucket. He is sensitive, moved to tears when he talks about his recently-deceased mother, and he wears his good looks lightly. He is plain-spoken and friendly, and his good looks make him a favorite with the female guests, who are shown to be just as unrelenting as the men, refusing to take no for an answer. He finds himself groped by a guest and then defamed in a bad review when he refuses to sleep with her. Here, Hilderbrand shows that staff members of both genders are vulnerable in the face of entitled guests, who feel that their appetites can have no limit.

At first glance, peacock-haired, emaciated, frazzled Kimber Marsh seems like the last person who could pose as meticulously-critical hotel critic Shelly Carpenter. Ironically, Kimber is one of the factors that Lizbet worries most about when Shelly does visit. Kimber, who has been on an emotional rollercoaster since her husband cheated on her with the nanny, is a lackadaisical parent who allows her children to roam the hotel unsupervised. However, she also encourages their baroque interests—chess and sleuthing—and therefore allows them to be themselves.

Shelly Carpenter writes that she wishes to feel at home in a hotel, and Kimber acts on this by walking around in skimpy pajamas and embarking on a romance with Richie Decameron. Whereas she is discerning in judging hotels, she is less so when it comes to love, as she is late to pick up on the signs that point to Richie’s illicit activities. Still, she emerges as a romantic who will defend Richie to the end when she pays for his attorney.

After making her way through the Nancy Drew mystery series, Kimber’s daughter Wanda becomes an amateur sleuth. She becomes obsessed with finding Grace, wanting to venerate her, and unlike the adults is not afraid of searching through the fourth-floor corridor. She is the force behind the article that sees Grace’s reputation restored, and she draws comfort from the ghost’s presence, asking to hear her knocking. Grace, in turn, adores Wanda and continues to watch over her beyond her stay.

Night auditor Richie Decameron is a fatherly type who is in financial straits following his divorce. Although he seems entirely benign and harmless to Lizbet when she interviews him, Grace feels something strange about his aura. As the novel progresses, we learn that Richie has nowhere to live and is taking mysterious late-night phone calls in Lizbet’s office. Eventually, Bob Ianucci, an FBI member masquerading as a guest, arrests Richie for wire fraud and identity theft. His helpful, unassuming ways draw Kimber’s attention, and she soon persuades him to enter a relationship. Before his arrest, tension mounts as Richie embraces the more open-hearted boyfriend role while continuing the illegal, secret activity that enables him to keep up on his alimony payments.