Elin Hilderbrand On Beating Breast Cancer & Writing 2 Books A Year

There is nothing like sitting on a beach listening to the sound of the ocean and relaxing with a good book! Elin Hilderbrand, aka Queen of the Summer Novel, will make you feel like your feet are in the sand while you’re reading her books even if you’re 100 miles away from the closest beach. In her nineteenth novel, The Identicals, two twins living on two separate islands join forces to save what's left of their splintered family after more than a decade apart. The twins are quick to discover that the secrets, lies, and gossip they thought they'd left behind can travel between islands just as quickly as they can. Elin even admits that she based The Identicals on a very popular movie. Can you guess which one? (Hint: the answer is in her interview!)

We were fortunate enough to have Elin stop by our Lite FM studios to record an episode of the Public Library Podcast where she dives into her writing process for this novel, and how this is the first time she’s written in an alternate setting besides Nantucket. Of course her hometown is still a major part of The Identicals, but Elin also goes into unfamiliar territory when half of the novel is set in Martha’s Vineyard. Learning about the differences between the two islands is fascinating, especially when they are 38 miles away from one another. 

Elin also explained how she balances being a mom of three busy children, while churning out two novels a year!

Elin also opened up to Helen about surviving breast cancer, and how she powered through her illness to keep writing books. "I was doing a segment on CBS This Morning and I was truly terrified and then 24-hours later I'm lying facedown on an operating table waiting for the doctors to take my breasts off. I honestly couldn't tell you what I was more scared of. I just dug deep, and thought that I had to get through this because I have work and three children, so I looked at battling this illness as something that has to get done. The writing really kept me focused because I had to do it so I didn't have a lot of time to sit around and think about how sick I was." 

Check out the full conversation to learn more about Elin Hilderbrand and her 13th novel The Identicals!


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