Swan Song

“We feel bad that Sharon has been dropped like a hot potato at the age of fifty‑four, but none of us feel guilty talking about it. When we think of how many hours Blond Sharon has spent blabbing about other people’s business, we can’t help but see this moment as a kind of poetic justice.”

The past timeframe occasionally employs a first-person plural narrator. The unidentified voice is implied to be the collective opinion of the Nantucketers who witness the events of the summer. The technique implicates the reader in its sometimes judgmental and snarky commentary, adding to immersion in the world. Additionally, the mention of “poetic justice” in this passage is significant, as it becomes an important theme of the novel.

“At the ferry terminal, Coco begins to understand what going to Nantucket means. Everyone is preppy and wealthy‑looking; the clothes are tasteful; there’s a lot of navy blue and white.”

Coco observes the class and affluence of her fellow-passengers aboard the ferry to Nantucket. This commentary offers a glimpse into the socioeconomic profile of the Nantucket community, which feeds into one of the book’s central themes: Wealth, Class, and Social Status.

“Coco remembers Leslee saying that the house had ‘issues,’ something about climate change and erosion. Bull dismissed that, not because he was a climate denier (Coco hopes) but because, he said, they’d be dead before it mattered.”

Coco reflects on the climate issues of the Triple Eight property, which the Richardsons purchased regardless. The house is not only an important symbol (See: Symbols & Motifs), but also an instance of poetic justice: Bull, who violates numerous environmental regulations via his company, sinks a fortune into a house doomed by climate change. Fittingly, the house and his business go up in literal and figurative flames at the end of the summer.

“Avalon takes a beat. This is the woman Eric’s parents and their friends were talking about at dinner the night before. What does the Chief always say? It’s a small island.”

As Avalon is summoned to give Leslee a massage at the Richardsons’ hotel, she repeats a refrain that recurs throughout the book. The idea that Nantucket is a small island, and the consequences of the community being so interconnected, is something that Hilderbrand explores over the course of the story.

“‘I’m glad the Richardsons were true to their word,’ Andrea says. ‘Why wouldn’t they be?’ ‘Well,’ Andrea says, ‘nobody knows them.’ ‘Phoebe and Addison know them.’ ‘As clients, sweetheart, not as people.’ ‘Do you hear yourself?’ Kacy asks. ‘God forbid this island should have some new blood. Would it kill you to welcome them?’”

Andrea and Kacy have different responses to the Richardsons’ arrival: Andrea’s wariness underlines how closed the Nantucket community is to newcomers who try and make a permanent home, as opposed to tourists; Kacy’s more welcoming reaction shows how younger generations of Nantucketers are less tied to these concerns than their parents. But Andrea is right to be wary: Both Bull and Leslee prove to be untrustworthy.

“Delilah’s favorite part of the Field and Oar is the Burgee Bar. Burgees from clubs across the country flutter from the ceiling. The bar is made from oak salvaged from the original club floor; the leather stools are comfortably worn; and they famously serve Bugles as a bar snack. Nothing about the Burgee is fancy or sleek, but it exudes the rarefied feel of members‑only.” 

The Burgee Bar is nestled within the Field and Oar Club, and its description in this passage speaks to the theme of Wealth, Class, and Status. The bar is not fancy or luxurious; its appeal lies, rather, in its exclusivity and the pedigree of those who have access to it. Thus, on the island, wealth does not equal elite status, which has more to do with lineage.

“‘What I’d really like is for Chief Kapenash to step away from this investigation,’ Zara says. ‘His last day is Monday. He shouldn’t be taking on the onus of this case, of these two cases, with only a few days left. […] It’s like he wants some kind of swan song.’”

Zara Washington, the police officer replacing Ed as police chief after his retirement, is annoyed that Ed’s insists on being involved in the investigation. She notes that he views the case as his “swan song”—the first appearance of the book’s title, a phrase that evokes the folk legend that swans sing before dying. Ed’s swan song is metafictionally significant—the novel is also Hilderbrand’s last in this Nantucket series.

“‘The big one is Hedonism,’ Leslee says. ‘Bull thinks sailing is elite, but I prefer to go fast, so over the weekend, I bought Decadence.’ She points to the speedboat.”

Along with the house, the Richardsons make two other expensive purchases: a yacht and a speedboat named Hedonism and Decadence. These names aptly signify the kind of life the Richardsons live, and become settings for acts of debauchery and pleasure-seeking that destroy the Richardsons’ reputation.

“But from the moment Delilah met Leslee Richardson, she’d gotten a bad feeling. Since that’s the case, shouldn’t Delilah be glad that she hasn’t received an invitation? Would she agree to go even if she were invited?”

When Delilah believes that she hasn’t received an invitation to Leslee’s party, she is conflicted, feeling disappointed despite taking a personal dislike to Leslee. When she discovers that she has been invited after all, she feels a sense of relief. This is the effect of a calculated attempt on Leslee’s part to frame her parties and her company as exclusive, in a bid to elevate her social status, playing into the theme of Wealth, Class, and Social Status.

“‘Rachel McMann, the dentist’s wife, is leaking all kinds of videos,’ Leslee says. ‘You know what that gets her?’ ‘Followers?’ Coco says. ‘Blackballed,’ Leslee says. ‘Bull and I loathe social media. We prefer to experience our lives in person.’”

Following the Richardsons’ first party, Leslee is irked that of one of her guests has posted pictures and videos on social media. Leslee’s disapproval stems from two things: Firstly, her desire to keep her parties exclusive, and so increasingly coveted; secondly, her aversion to having her presence and actions up on the internet, especially because she and Bull have a past of indiscretions, misbehavior, and possibly worse.

“‘So anyway,’ Avalon says […] ‘that’s why I won’t work on her.’ ‘Wow,’ Kacy says. These are the first negative words she’s heard about the Richardsons. Everyone else on the island is hopelessly in love with them.”

Avalon reveals to Kacy that Leslee propositioned her and Eric and asked them to join her and Bull for a sexual encounter. This is one of the first instances that the Richardsons’ behavior is noted as being out of bounds of propriety for the Nantucket community and marks the beginning of their eventual downfall.

“‘Whoa, buddy,’ the Chief said. It was a silver Range Rover with the license plate BEAST. The blond kid driving eyed Ed in his rearview mirror and flipped him off. You again? Ed thought.”

Ed is irritated at seeing a young man in an ostentatious car speeding multiple times. Eventually, Ed does manage to catch and fine him, joking to Zara that this police coup is his true “swan song.” Ed’s equal investment in both this minor crime and the Richardsons’ felonious activities shows his dedication to serving the Nantucket community to the best of his capability.

“Busy waves a dismissive hand. ‘The summer I turned seventeen, I had a steamy romance with one of the short‑order cooks who worked at the snack bar here. My parents were distraught about it, of course, but they needn’t have worried. It was over the second we said goodbye at the ferry on Labor Day.’ She turns to Romeo. ‘You work at the ferry, don’t you?’”

Busy Ambrose, the commodore of the Field and Oar Club, dismissively insults Romeo, Sharon’s new paramour, because of his working class background. Busy’s comments reveal the classist attitude that permeates privileged communities like Nantucket, largely populated by wealthy, upper-class, white people, who place immense value on Wealth, Class, and Social Status.

“Kacy pulls out her phone. ‘So you should probably know…I have a text Coco sent a few days ago that says Leslee was trying to kill her.’”

Kacy reveals to Ed that Coco has recently claimed Leslee tried to kill her. This information introduces a new element of suspense and intrigue, as there is now an alternative possibility to Coco’s disappearance. The mystery of who set fire to Triple Eight and where Coco has gone keeps the reader guessing.

“The next point, Leslee volleys with one foot squarely in the kitchen, and Delilah keeps playing because she realizes that protesting is useless; Leslee is never going to play by the rules.”

Delilah accepts that she will never be able to stop Leslee from cheating at pickleball, a game that becomes a recurring motif. The willingness to cheat at something with such low stakes points to Leslee’s opportunistic nature, her refusal to play by the rules, and her tendency to lie to get her own way. Eventually, however, Leslee is ousted from the quartet and the more appropriately behaved Sharon is welcomed in, restoring balance to the community.

“Sharon has become the kind of woman she never understood before—someone who doesn’t need to talk about other people to make her days more interesting because her days are interesting enough as it is.”

Sharon learns about the ongoing investigations into Bull and his business via her sister, but for the first time, doesn’t repeat this information to anyone else. Having entered a loving and fulfilling relationship for the first time, Sharon discovers that contentment in her own life leaves her uninterested in gossiping about others. Sharon thus undergoes Personal Reinvention in the truest and most successful sense.

“Coco’s eyes sting. Lamont has left her, and now Kacy maybe isn’t her friend after all. Is this possible?”

Coco feels betrayed romantically and platonically. She is bitter that Lamont is forced to go away overnight with Leslee, and upset that Kacy has been sending pictures of her to Isla with the implication that the two women are a couple. However, neither of these complications triggers Coco’s desire for revenge—that level of Betrayal and Poetic Justice is reserved for the Richardsons.

“Coco loathes Leslee, despises Bull, is in danger of falling in love with Lamont—but her feelings about Kacy are the ones that trouble her the most. Coco is not only disgusted, she’s hurt. All. Those. Selfies. How can Coco reconcile Kacy’s actions with the smart, thoughtful person she believed Kacy was?”

Coco has complicated feelings about all of her present relationships. On the one hand, Coco’s deep hurt at Kacy’s actions and Lamont’s forced neglect underscores that she has formed authentic relationships on Nantucket. In contrast, the strong negative feelings Coco has toward the Richardsons act as a red herring, suggesting that Coco has motive to harm them.

“In the center is an eight‑sided mahogany hot tub with elegant copper ladders hanging off each side. The bottom of the tub is tiled cobalt blue. It’s the bougiest hot tub Coco has ever seen.”

The octagonal hot tub that Leslee installs in her garden is meant to be the third architectural figure-eight in the house dedicated to that number because it is located on 888 Pocono Street and nicknamed Triple Eight. Ironically, while the number 888 is considered lucky in some cultures, the house proves unlucky for the Richardsons: After the hot tub party, Leslee is refused membership at Field and Oar and is cut out of Nantucket society.

“The rest of the notebook is all blank pages, or so Kacy thinks until she gets to the back and finds a…diagram. In the center are the words The Personal Concierge, and radiating out like spokes on a wheel are lines that end in circled names: Bull, Leslee, Lamont, Kacy.”

Coco’s notebook is eventually revealed to be her brainstorming for the plot of her successful screenplay. Writing is a recurring motif in the book, connected with the theme of Personal Reinvention. Coco and Sharon both find new identities as writers, reimagining their lives and futures.

“Never in a million years did Sharon imagine she’d be the deciding vote. The good thing is, she doesn’t even have to think about it. ‘Nay,’ she says. ‘Sharon!’ Busy cries. ‘You went to all their parties!’ Exactly, Sharon thinks.”

One of the most satisfying aspects of the novel’s interest in retributive justice is the fact that overlooked Sharon becomes the deciding vote on the Richardsons’ membership into Field and Oar. So much has Sharon’s new confidence and social influence grown that shortly after she votes no, the waffling Phoebe does, too. Sharon and Phoebe’s connection here foreshadows the fact that Sharon will become the new fourth “Castaway.”

“‘We did everything right,’ Leslee says. ‘But everywhere we go, we fit in for a little while and then people shun us. Why?’ Because you aren’t genuine? Coco thinks. Because everything with you is transactional? Because you’re an egregious social climber?”

When Leslee is distraught after she is rejected from the Field and Oar Club, Coco reflects on the reasons for the rejection. The Richardsons have failed time and again at Personal Reinvention because they never learn from their mistakes. Instead, they continue to behave arrogantly and inauthentically, without any self-awareness about their actions, in every community they’ve tried to join.

“She has been nurturing an idea for revenge against the Richardsons, but it always seemed outlandish and beyond the scope of what she’s capable of doing. Until now.”

Coco reflects on an idea for revenge against the Richardsons. This passage acts as a red herring, suggesting that Coco did, indeed, burn down Triple Eight. However, it is later revealed that Coco’s revenge is the screenplay she writes about the Richardsons and the events of the summer. In it, she tells the story in her own way, to glowing praise across the globe. Selling the script also gives Coco financial success. However, while the Richardsons experience financial ruin after Bull and Leslee’s crimes are exposed, the movie becomes a highlight for Leslee as well—she screens it for her fellow prisoners, elated to be portrayed onscreen.