SMITHFIELD – Though author Elin Hilderbrand has been called "queen of the beach read," achieving the title – and establishing it as a moniker with literary weight – has been no day at the beach.
In her professional life, it's involved writing 32 books over the course of 26 years, with almost every book going on to become a New York Times bestseller. And unlike her romance novels, Hilderbrand says, there was nothing alluring about the process.
Hilderbrand instead sums herself up in three words: consistent, disciplined and neat.
"It is not luck, and a lot of times it is to talent," Hilderbrand said, speaking at Bryant University's 29th annual Women's Summit on Thursday afternoon. "It is consistency. It is showing up and doing the work, and that is definitely true in my case."
Then, in 2014, Hilderbrand received life-altering news while writing her novel "The Matchmaker." In the book, a character is shocked to receive a cancer diagnosis.
As she tried to place herself in the character's shoes, Hilderbrand received a breast cancer diagnosis. The author, who had no family history of the disease and led a healthy lifestyle, was similarly stunned.
Hilderbrand is now cancer free, but she underwent a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgeries. After her last surgery, Hilderbrand developed an infection so severe that doctors advised her to say goodbye to her children.
Now, she often hears from readers who clung to her books as an escape as they navigated their own illnesses and hardships.
Hilderbrand recalls meeting a reader who told her she had "survived emotionally because she was able to escape through my books."
It's these types of interactions that lead Hilderbrand to embrace her "queen of the beach read" title, which she notes did not start out as a true compliment.
The name was instead "very typically the male universe trying to put me in a box. ... They generally don't say that kind of thing about male authors," Hilderbrand said. "Male authors, in general, are taken more seriously, or this was the case when I started out."
But hearing from her readers, the title took on a new significance.
"In your darkest hour, if you are reaching for one of my novels and it is giving you any kind of relief from the circumstances of your actual life, that is where I embrace being called 'the queen of the beach read,' " Hilderbrand said. "Because that, really, is serving a purpose."
Today, women not only appear on the New York Times bestseller list, but they have established genres that were once dismissed as frivolous as powerful in their own right, Hilderbrand said.
"There was a cultural shift where somebody in a position of elite power said, 'You know what, these books are worthwhile' – beach books, romance books, books that used to be called 'chick lit' – they are now legitimate literature," Hildebrand said.
Hilderbrand capped off the summit's lineup of three keynote speakers. Earlier in the day, Barbara Papitto, founder and a trustee of Rhode Island nonprofit the Papitto Opportunity Connection, and Mandy Scipione, head of global diversity and inclusion at Fidelity Investments, also addressed the sold-out crowd at the event.
The summit's 1,000-plus attendees also participated in professional development opportunities such as breakout sessions and networking receptions.
Providence Business News was a co-sponsor of the event.
Jacquelyn Voghel is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Voghel@PBN.com.
