The Nantucket Summer Setting: A Symbol in The Perfect Couple

The Setting as a Character

In Elin Hilderbrand’s The Perfect Couple, the island of Nantucket functions as more than a scenic backdrop: it is a concrete symbol that embodies wealth, seasonal excess, and hidden duplicity. The wedding compound called Summerland — a private estate with a main house, cottages, manicured gardens, and a private stretch of harbor — represents the Winbury family’s power and the gilded cage in which the characters are trapped. The novel’s tragedy unfolds during the Fourth of July week, the peak of Nantucket’s summer season, when the island is choked with tourists, fog delays flights, and the culture of lavish weddings creates a pressure cooker for hidden tensions.

The opening chapter establishes this mood: Chief Ed Kapenash receives a pre-dawn call about a floater at Summerland, and the narrative immediately ties the mystery to “Nantucket’s culture of summer excess” (chapter 1). The setting is not just where the crime happens; it actively shapes the characters’ choices and the investigation’s constraints. The island’s reputation for idyllic escape is the very thing that enables secrets to fester.

Recurrence and Shifting Meaning

The Nantucket setting recurs throughout the novel in key moments, each time with a shifting symbolic weight.

Greer’s Drive (chapter 2): Greer Garrison Winbury drives to fetch the bride’s parents, pointing out shops and restaurants that define the island’s elite lifestyle. She mentions the red pants worn by gentlemen, the nautical antiques store, and the three boats the family owns. Here, Nantucket symbolizes effortless wealth and social performance. Greer’s confidence that the wedding is “destined to go smoothly” rests on her ability to control the setting itself.
Karen’s Arrival (chapter 3): Karen Otis, terminally ill and burdened by medical debt, sees Summerland for the first time and can scarcely breathe. She thinks, “This is the most beautiful place she has ever been. It’s so beautiful it hurts.” For Karen, Nantucket is a painful reminder of the gulf between the Winburys’ world and her own modest life. The beauty becomes almost cruel, as she knows she will not live to enjoy her daughter’s new family.
The Island’s Gossip (chapter 23): News of the “Murdered Maid of Honor” spreads through restaurants and inns. The setting shifts from private estate to public island, where strangers speculate and connect Merritt’s past (her affair with a boss) to her death. Nantucket becomes a stage for communal storytelling, where reputation is both weapon and shield.
The Airport and the Fog (chapter 12): Marty Szczerba, head of airport security, muses on Nantucket’s infamous fog. The fog symbolizes the island’s isolation and the way it disrupts plans — flights are delayed, lovers’ rendezvous canceled. The fog also mirrors the opacity of the Winburys’ secrets: just as a low ceiling grounds planes, the family’s lies prevent the truth from taking flight.
Merritt’s Final Night (chapter 38): In the final chapter that bears the island’s name, Nantucket embodies tragic irony. Merritt returns from a kayak ride with Tag, soaking wet and crying. She cuts her foot on broken glass left from a dropped tray — a detail that echoes the champagne flutes shattered earlier in the weekend. As she wades into the water to retrieve Tag’s silver ring, she thinks, “Like love, it is just beyond her reach.” The setting that should be idyllic becomes the scene of her accidental death.

Character and Theme Connections

The Nantucket setting ties directly to the novel’s central themes:

Class Divide: The Winburys’ Summerland estate, with its three boats and multiple cottages, contrasts sharply with the Otises’ financial struggles. Karen’s perception of the island as “waterfront utopia” underscores how economic disparity shapes every interaction. The setting literalizes the distance between the two families — a distance that Greer is determined to maintain.
Infidelity and Secrets: The island’s summer culture of temporary escape enables Tag’s affair with Merritt. The kayak, a symbol of leisure, becomes the vehicle for their final confrontation. The setting’s privacy — the secluded beach, the separate cottages — allows secrets to flourish until they become deadly. As Chief Kapenash investigates, he finds that Nantucket’s beauty “held her people’s secrets” (chapter 38).
Family Loyalty and Deception: Greer, upon learning that Abby’s attempt to drug Featherleigh mistakenly killed Merritt, decides to keep the truth hidden forever to protect the Winbury reputation. The setting — a place where appearances matter above all — makes this choice plausible. The public verdict of accidental death (chapter 36) lets the island return to its surface perfection: “How could anything bad ever happen here?” as a tourist wonders earlier (chapter 23).
Grief and Terminal Illness: Karen’s terminal cancer is a private tragedy that she conceals amid the wedding festivities. Nantucket’s relentless cheer — the champagne, the lobster, the live band — deepens her isolation. She pretends everything is fine so her daughter can have a “happy wedding weekend.” The setting magnifies the gulf between inner pain and outward celebration.
Justice vs. Reputation: The novel’s resolution prioritizes family reputation over legal justice. Greer chooses silence, and the police rule the death accidental. Nantucket itself colludes: the island’s tourism-dependent economy has no interest in a scandal that would tarnish its summer fantasy. As the fudge shop owner says in chapter 28, the murder story is “bad for business.”

The Island’s Dual Nature

Nantucket is both paradise and prison. For the Winburys, it is a summer playground; for the service workers like Lola Budd or Marty Szczerba, it is a place of seasonal grind. The fog (chapter 12) and the sold-out ferries (chapter 20) trap characters together, forcing confrontations. Merritt, pregnant and alone, cannot escape even in death: her body floats in the same harbor that tourists admire from restaurants.

The silver ring that Merritt throws into the ocean and tries to retrieve symbolizes the elusive happiness the setting promises but never delivers. Just as the ring remains “out of reach” on the ocean floor, the perfect summer wedding weekend dissolves into tragedy. Nantucket, the symbol of privilege and escape, ultimately holds the darkest secrets.

Study Questions

How does the Nantucket setting reinforce the theme of class divide in the novel?
Answer: The Winburys’ Summerland estate — with its three boats, manicured gardens, and private harbor — stands in stark contrast to the Otises’ debt-ridden life. Karen’s reaction, calling it “the most beautiful place she has ever been,” highlights the economic gap. The setting literalizes the distance between the families, as Greer’s tour of exclusive shops and her casual mention of a second apartment in London alienates Karen.
What role does the island’s seasonal culture of summer excess play in enabling the crime?
Answer: The summer wedding culture normalizes excess — champagne, late nights, private kayak excursions — which allows Tag’s affair with Merritt to remain hidden. The season’s impermanence (everyone leaves after Labor Day) encourages secrecy. The novel’s opening explicitly ties the tragedy to the island’s “culture of summer excess,” suggesting that the luxurious environment itself creates the conditions for fatal mistakes.
How does Greer’s relationship with the Nantucket setting reflect her character arc?
Answer: Greer sees Nantucket as her domain: she controls the wedding plans, points out landmarks, and arranges the ring test. Her confidence is rooted in her command of the setting. After learning the truth about Merritt’s death, she chooses to protect the family reputation by keeping the secret. The setting becomes the stage for her moral compromise — she preserves the island’s pristine image at the cost of justice.
In what ways does the island’s physical environment mirror the characters’ internal states?
Answer: The fog (chapter 12) represents the confusion and opacity of the investigation: just as fog delays flights, the Winburys’ lies delay the truth. The blood in the sand by the kayak (chapter 20) mirrors Merritt’s emotional wounds. The broken glass from the dropped champagne flutes recurs in Merritt’s cut foot, linking the accidental violence of the party to her death. Finally, the ocean where Merritt drowns embodies the elusive love and peace she sought — “just beyond her reach.”

For further exploration of related themes, see the pages on infidelity and secrets, the class divide, and family loyalty and deception.