Hilderbabes Take Nantucket

On a Friday night in January, Elin Hilderbrand strode into the ballroom of the Nantucket Hotel wearing a fuchsia sundress, jeweled flip flops and a smile as twinkly as the disco ball over her head.

It was trivia night at the ninth Elin Hilderbrand Bucket List Weekend in Nantucket, Mass., and 131 readers from all over the country — mostly white middle-aged women — welcomed the author with a frenzied fervor their daughters would save for Taylor Swift. There were woot woots, cameras in the air and tears. One guest twirled a plastic lei, lasso-style (the dress code was tropical). Another texted in a font so enormous it was visible across a 10-person table, “OMG she just walked in. DYING.”

Regulars at book events know how rare it is for writers to receive a hero’s welcome; more often than not, they’re greeted by rows of empty chairs. The fact that Hilderbrand’s fans traveled to an island 30 miles off the coast of Cape Cod, during the coldest month of the year, to see the places she writes about is remarkable unto itself. Factor in repeat participants, a 300-person waiting list for each of the last two Bucket List Weekends (Hilderbrand says she plans to retire in 2024) and the expense ($695 for an event package, plus transportation and lodging, which begins at $495 on site) and you have to wonder: What is Hilderbrand’s special sauce? And what does a Hilderbabe, as fans are known, get out of her time on Nantucket?

“The greatest thing about this weekend is, hour one maybe it’s about me, but it goes way beyond me. It’s about the island and the group of women,” said Hilderbrand, who could pass for Jill Biden’s younger sister. She continued, “They come to shop. They come to drink. They’re away from their kids and their husband and their job and they’re with their girlfriends and it’s full on fun having. They have joie de vivre. That is typical of my readers.”