63 pages • 2 hours read
Elin HilderbrandThe Perfect Couple
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-7Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “Saturday, July 7, 2018, 5:53 a.m.”
At the height of wedding season on Nantucket, Chief Ed Kapenash of the Nantucket Police Department receives a call from his deputy, Sergeant Dickson. Twenty-nine-year-old Merritt Monaco, in town to participate in a wedding, has been found drowned dead. Merritt’s body was discovered at dawn by the bride, Celeste Otis; Merritt was to be Celeste’s maid of honor. In light of Merritt’s death, the wedding has been cancelled. Dickson informs Kapenash that “the Greek,” or Detective Nicholas Diamantopoulos, is on his way to interrogate the guests at Summerland, the estate where the wedding was to take place between Celeste and Benjamin “Benji” Winbury, the younger son of the wealthy Garrison-Winbury family, Summerland’s owners. Chief Kapenash plans to join the Greek in his interrogation.
Chapter 2 Summary: “Friday, July 6, 2018, 9:15 a.m.”
The timeline shifts to a day prior. Blond and immaculately dressed, Greer Garrison Winbury, Benji’s mother, drives to Nantucket shore to pick up Celeste’s parents. The couple has arrived by ferry from New York City to attend the wedding. As she drives, Greer contemplates the upcoming wedding. Celeste has left all the wedding planning to her, which Greer appreciates; Greer’s older son, Thomas, married Abby, oil tycoon Mr. Freeman’s daughter, in a gaudy wedding. Benji and Celeste’s wedding, in contrast, will be tasteful and elegant. The only hitch in the proceedings is that Celeste has developed a stutter out of wedding nerves. Greer believes the stutter is a tell that Celeste is unsure about the wedding, a detail Greer plans to incorporate into the novel she’s currently writing. Greer is a prolific and successful writer of murder mysteries set in Nantucket. Her two main worries in life are her work and her husband, Tag, whom she knows cheats on her with other women.
Karen and Bruce Otis, Celeste’s parents, approach Nantucket on the ferry. Unlike the wealthy Winburys, the Otises are strictly middle class. The Otises live in Easton, a town in Pennsylvania. Bruce works at the fashion brand Neiman Marcus, while Karen works at the gift shop of a crayon factory. As the seaside mansions of Nantucket come into view, Karen estimates the owners of these holiday homes must have at least $50 million each, an unthinkable amount. They live in places like New York and Virginia and summer on Nantucket. Bruce and Karen have never been on an extravagant vacation, saving their money for Celeste’s college fund. The trip to Nantucket is a luxury, expedited—along with the wedding—because of Karen’s health. Karen has metastatic breast cancer and regularly needs to take the painkiller Oxycodone (Oxy) to manage her pain. The doctors say she may not live beyond 18 months. Karen thinks of the three-day wedding trip as the “Grand Finale” (23) to her life. The ferry docks, and Bruce helps Karen ashore. Greer immediately recognizes the couple and welcomes them with a hug. At Summerland, the sprawling Winbury estate, Karen is left speechless at Winbury wealth on display. Karen and Bruce meet Tag, Greer’s handsome husband, and Thomas, Benji’s older brother. Celeste greets her mother warmly, her stutter gone for the moment.
Chapter 3 Summary: “Saturday, July 7, 2018, 6:45 a.m.”
At Summerland, Chief Kapenash and Nicholas “Nick” Diamantopoulos, or the Greek, send Merritt’s body for an autopsy. They note that Merritt had a gash on her foot. On the beach where her body was found are signs of a small party: shot glasses, a bottle of rum, and some cigars on a banquet table. Underneath the table are a pair of silver sandals, probably belonging to Merritt. The best man, Michael Oscar “Shooter” Uxley, who is also reported missing, materializes on the spot with a duffel bag. Shooter is shocked when Nick tells him Merritt is dead. Chief Kapenash and Nick decide to divide the interviews between them. Chief Kapenash will interview the men, and Nick, who is known for his good looks and charm, will interview the ladies.
Chief Kapenash first meets Roger Pelton, his old friend, who is also the planner for the wedding. It was Pelton whom Celeste ran to after she found Merritt floating in the water. Pelton called 911 and informed the Winburys of Merritt’s death. The only odd detail Pelton noticed in the morning was that Celeste was dressed as if she was going away, even carrying her purse and overnight bag. Celeste is at the hospital, since she broke down on discovering Merritt’s body. Meanwhile, Nick begins with questioning Abigail “Abby” Freeman Winbury, the wife of Thomas Winbury. Abby is pregnant. She tells the detectives that Merritt was Celeste’s only friend. Celeste and Merritt were complete opposites. Blond and introverted Celeste, the assistant director of the Bronx Zoo, was a social media recluse, while dark-haired and outgoing Merritt was a public relations executive and a huge social media influencer. Benji is Celeste’s first serious boyfriend, whereas Merritt has dated many people. While Celeste is very close to her parents, Bruce and Karen, Merritt has been estranged from her family for years.
Chapter 4 Summary: “Saturday, October 22, 2016”
The narrative flashes back to 2016. Celeste, the newly appointed assistant director of the Bronx Zoo, takes over the reptile section for the upcoming talk as the zoo’s head herpetologist has taken a sick day. Celeste, whose specialty is primates, is uncomfortable handling snakes. Celeste encounters a young couple with a seven-year-old child. The man is Benji Winbury, and the woman is his girlfriend, Jules. The little girl is Jules’s daughter from a past relationship. Jules is high-handed with both Benji and her daughter, finally storming out of the reptile section after an argument. Benji and the little girl hang out with Celeste for the rest of the afternoon. Benji asks Celeste for her number to share with a friend who organizes educational field trips.
Chapter 5 Summary: “July 7, 2018, 7:00 a.m.”
Back in the present day at Summerland, Nick continues questioning Abby. Nick has a hunch that Abby is hiding something about Merritt’s romantic life. Abby tells Nick that Benji and Celeste cancelled the wedding rehearsal the previous night after their minister, Reverend Derby, had his flight delayed. The rehearsal dinner, a lobster-and-wine picnic on the beach, went on as scheduled. Both Benji’s father, Tag, and Merritt were absent when people raised toasts. After the dinner ended, Benji and Celeste, as well as Benji’s brother, Thomas, and the other members of the groom’s party all decided to go to town for drinks. While Tag and Celeste’s father Bruce Otis talked in Tag’s study, Karen, Greer, and Abby stayed in their own rooms. Later that night, Abby spotted Celeste comforting a crying Merritt in the rose garden. Abby is not sure if Merritt went out drinking with Ben and the others. Nick asks Abby about a two-person kayak they found upturned on the same beach off which Merritt’s body was found. Abby says the kayak has to belong to her father-in-law, Tag, though Tag is usually very careful about locking his kayaks up after using them. When Nick asks Abby if Tag is a person with secrets, Abby defends him.
Chapter 6 Summary: “Friday, May 18-Saturday, May 19, 2018”
A few months before Benji and Celeste’s planned wedding, Celeste brings Merritt to Summerland for the weekend. When Celeste and Greer leave to meet the wedding caterers, Tag encounters Merritt in the kitchen. Tag and Merritt feel attracted to each other and flirt. They are interrupted by Abby walking back into the kitchen. An immediately chastised Tag withdraws, sure that Abby noticed Merritt and him touching.
Tag receives an invite to an exclusive wine tasting. Greer cannot accompany him as she has to work on her novel and asks him to instead take Abby, Celeste, or Merritt. Merritt agrees to go. Tag is uneasy about a public outing with Merritt because of his attraction to her, but he decides that if he acts innocently, the act will be seen as reality. Tag and Merritt have a wonderful evening, pretending to be newlyweds at the festival. Tag feels guilty about flirting with Merritt; he’s not only married but also nearly three decades older than Merritt. Nonetheless, he and Merritt end up sleeping together afterward.
Chapter 7 Summary: “Saturday, July 7, 2018, 8:30 a.m.”
Chief Kapenash decides to next question Shooter Uxley, Benji’s best man. Shooter claims he was not missing the previous night. Instead, he was at the Wauvinet Inn in town, having a spontaneous romantic interlude with the bartender, Gina. He decided to return to Summerland in the morning, which is why he was carrying his luggage. When Chief Kapenash asks Shooter to share Gina’s number with him to corroborate the story, Shooter excuses himself to use the bathroom. Chief Kapenash calls the cab driver—a friend of Chief Kapenash’s—who drove Shooter to Summerland this morning. The driver picked Shooter up from the Steamboat wharf, not the Wauvinet. Chief Kapenash goes to check on Shooter and finds Shooter has fled Summerland.
Chapters 1-7 Analysis
One of the novel’s key narrative devices, as revealed in this first section, is the switch between multiple timelines. In the present, the story unfolds over the day-long investigation into Merritt’s death. This real-time investigation is interspersed by flashbacks of important events, such as the course of Benji and Celeste’s relationship, Celeste’s attraction to Shooter, and Tag and Merritt’s affair. The multiple narrative strands deepen the suspense of the plot while fleshing out the main characters in the novel. Along with a multitude of timelines, the author also uses multiple points of view to build the narrative. For instance, the first chapter is narrated from the third-person-close point of view of Chief Kapenash, the objective outsider to the action in the plot. Beginning the novel through Kapenash’s perspective is an important choice, as his outsider perspective aligns with that of the reader. A stand-in for the reader, Kapenash’s character eases the reader into the closed, cliquish world of the novel and lays a foundation for the steady reveal of The Dichotomy Between Public and Private Personas.
The Nantucket world that the novel depicts is closed and bubble-like, with everyone on the island knowing the other. Roger Pelton, the wedding planner, is Kapenash’s friend, while Chloe, Chief Kapenash’s niece, works for Pelton. This motif of a closed world recurs in the novel, helping to further the plot as well as build the atmosphere of a warm and friendly, yet suffocating, milieu. The theme of The Illusion of the Perfect Family emerges in this section as the main two families of the novel and surrounding key players come together. While the Winburys are a perfect family on the outside, the epitome of charm, wealth, and culture, the text immediately shows the cracks in that veneer. Tag’s blatant flirting with Merritt, a woman his daughter’s age, shows his corruption. That a professionally successful and wealthy woman like Greer spends her days obsessing over her husband’s infidelity is another example of the corruption behind seemingly perfect fronts.
Another key theme introduced is The Privilege and Limitations of Wealth and Status. Much as Kapenash is the reader’s entry point into the world of the novel, another outsider, Karen Otis, is the entry point into the sheer ridiculousness of the privilege people like the Winburys enjoy. In an important scene, as Karen admires the Nantucket coastline, she calculates the amount of money it would take to own and run the huge waterfront properties. Having such a property itself implies a certain level of privilege, since these homes are mainly weekend or holiday homes. This stark contrast between the world of the Winburys and Otises is consistent throughout the novel, emphasized through the Winburys’ many symbols of status and luxury. The persistent juxtaposition informs the aforementioned theme, ensuring the privilege of the wealthier family is apparent. Both Greer and Tag provide striking examples. Though Greer is an intelligent and accomplished woman, she does not examine her privilege and accepts that she is snooty. She confesses that she is happy to forego tradition and pay for Benji’s wedding herself, because had Bruce and Karen decided to pay for the wedding, as per custom, “the wedding would be taking place in a church at the mall with a reception following at TGI Fridays” (16). The statement betrays Greer’s snobbery, but the more interesting aspect is that Greer is not ashamed or embarrassed by the snobbery in the least.
Although Tag often admonishes Greer for being a snob, he himself exercises his privilege of being male and wealthy whenever convenient. As Greer notes, Tag’s fortunes are from her side of the family. Further, Tag frames his affair with Merritt as Merritt seducing him with her sexuality and youth; the truth is that the power dynamics between Tag and Merritt are skewed heavily in his favor. Merritt is three decades younger than Tag and nowhere near as wealthy. Tag’s point-of-view narration covers the affair as a temptation and a bad decision, or as something that can’t be helped as Tag is “ultimately, only a man” (69). The subtext, however, shows that Tag’s actions are selfish and sinister. The vocabulary Tag uses to describe Merritt betrays his sexist and selfish attitude. When Merritt begins to tell him her unofficial job is that of an influencer, Tag thinks “unofficially, she’s a stripper. Or a high-end escort” (61). When he spots Merritt in a strappy bikini top, Tag wants to cut off the top with scissors, but at the same time, the black garment reminds him of a “black widow” (62) spider. Merritt is “dangerous” (62), he concludes. The irony is that, while Tag keeps referring to Merritt as dangerous, she’s the one who ends up dead. Tag’s moral dubiousness is also reflected in his mantra: “[P]erception is reality” (66). Tag believes the appearance of innocence is innocence itself, which is a convenient position to take.
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By Elin Hilderbrand
