Silver Girl by Elin Hilderbrand

When Freddy Delinn is charged with embezzling billions in a Ponzi scheme, his wife, Meredith, is frantic. She swears that she didn't know anything about the scheme, but the authorities are not convinced and start investigating her possible involvement as well as that of her sons. She knows that she must go into hiding and contacts an old friend, Connie, whom she hasn't seen in years. Together they spend the summer in Connie's summer house on Nantucket while they discover "the power of friendship, the pull of love, and the beauty of forgiveness."

Silver Girl is the latest book from Elin Hilderbrand and a perfect summer read. I really enjoy books set on the east coast and this one was no exception. I loved the 'ripped from the headlines' premise. When people like Meredith's husband Freddie (much like real life embezzler Bernie Madoff) are caught and dominate the headlines for weeks, what happens to the wife?

Alternating the narrative between Meredith and Connie, the story focuses on their summer, but also delves into their pasts to help the reader understand their tenuous relationship and how they got to where they are today. I loved how Hilderbrand constructed the story and kept details back until absolutely necessary adding a level of suspense to the book.

I really loved the characters in the book. They were flawed and believable. I thought about them when I wasn't reading about them. I couldn't wait to pick up the book again to see what they were doing. I wasn't totally convinced by the relationship between Connie's brother, Toby, and Meredith, but it was passable.

There were just a few things in the story that just didn't make sense. I'll only go into one of them so I don't reveal any major plot points. Several times throughout the book, Meredith mentions that she's had the same glasses since Grade 8; they have become her trademark. I can see having a certain style of glasses, but not the exact same pair. I wear glasses and I know that prescriptions change and the glasses wear out. Besides, her husband had embezzled billions of dollars. Surely, she would have updated them in the last 30+ years. That's just one of the little things that bothered me about the story. There were a few more, but as I said before I don't want to reveal any spoilers.

New words:
espadrilles (page 164): casual summer shoe
moldering (page 196): rotting
peripatetic (page 329): travelling, nomadic
avuncular (page 333): resembling an uncle
louche (page 380): Of questionable taste or morality

I also read and really enjoyed The Castaways (my review), which was also written by this author.

Even though I had a few problems with the story, I'd still highly recommend the book. However, it probably won't be making it to my "Best of 2011" list as I had anticipated it would. I still plan on reading more books by Hilderbrand. In fact, I have a few of her older books on my to-be-read shelf that I can't wait to get to.

For more information about this book or to browse inside, please visit the Hachette Book Group website.

I'd like to thank those nice people at Hachette Book Group for this review copy.

Silver Girl by Elin Hilderbrand, Reagan Arthur Books/Little, Brown and Company (Hachette), ©2011. ISBN 9780316099660(Advanced Reader's Copy), 417p.