Prologue: Nantucket
Another summer on the island is upon us and, as usual, we have a lot to talk
about. Chef Mario Subiaco proposed to Lizbet Keaton on the widow’s walk
of the Hotel Nantucket; there’s a camera crew filming out in Monomoy
(Blond Sharon has it “on good authority” that it’s a limited series for
Netflix); police chief Ed Kapenash has been admitted to the Nantucket
Cottage Hospital after complaining of chest pain—and there’s a steamy
debate about whether or not Nantucket should allow topless beaches. (We
think of ourselves as progressive and sophisticated, but let’s face it—we’re
not France.)
Then we hear a rumor that Hollis Shaw is hosting something she’s
calling the “Five-Star Weekend” at her house in Squam.
This, of course, captures our full attention.
Hollis Shaw is something of a unicorn.
She started out life as one of us. She was the daughter of Tom Shaw,
Nantucket’s busiest plumbing contractor, and Charlotte Shaw, a
kindergarten teacher. When Hollis was a toddler, not quite two years old,
Charlotte Shaw died of an aneurysm in the shower, and Tom Shaw was left
to raise his daughter alone. But on this island, we pitch in—it takes a
village!—and we all offered moral support as Hollis grew up. We watched
her dance in ballet recitals, shoot free throws at the Boys and Girls Club,
and cheer for her boyfriend Jack Finigan in the stands at the Nantucket
Whalers football games. Hollis was a good student, an outstanding softball
pitcher (the team won the state championship Hollis’s junior year and came
in second her senior year), and a hard worker. The cottage out in Squam
where she lived with her father was modest (though the land it sat on was
worth a fortune), and as soon as Hollis was old enough, she kept house and
cooked every night. She got a job opening scallops on Old North Wharf
after school, and in the summers, she and her best friend, Tatum, waited
