Swan Song

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 9

Chapters 10-18

Chapters 19-27

Chapters 28-42

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Book Club Questions

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Discussion Questions

Themes

Wealth, Class, and Social Status

Set on the wealthy island of Nantucket, Swan Song shows that while money and standing are undeniably related, different aspects of each interact with each other in complex ways.

Wealth confers an immediate and apparent advantage to those seeking social status. The Richardsons become the talk of the town as soon as they arrive in Nantucket, mostly because of their spending. They make a statement by buying their house and yacht, and they throw extravagant parties to further increase their popularity and desirability. Additionally, the Richardsons explicitly use their money to form connections, whether through philanthropy or lucrative business deals. In this way, the Richardsons build up positive social capital, forming a circle of people who are intrigued and attracted by what the Richardsons can offer and thus buying access to the right places.

To cement one’s social status, wealth must be buoyed by exclusivity. This is why Leslee works so hard to join the selective Field and Oar Club—an organization with a years-long waiting list that even longtime Nantucketers like Delilah have not been able to get into—cozying up to people with the power to influence her membership, such as Phoebe, Busy, and even Sharon. Leslee knows that exclusivity can lend social power. Affiliation with a place like Field and Oar would lend Leslee legitimacy as a member of the elite. In turn, Leslie also positions the Richardsons as equally exclusive, carefully curating guest lists to her parties to frame an invitation to one as something rare and coveted.

However, Leslee entirely discounts the importance of authenticity and trustworthiness in social climbing. Instead, her behavior is quickly exposed as entirely transactional on some occasions and wildly inappropriate on others. Although she leads with promises of favors, she does nothing to back up her claims of charitable giving; she relies on the veneer of married respectability to sexually approach and exploit those around her. Leslee firmly believes that money will protect her; thus, she expects people to overlook or forgive her excesses because of the financial power she holds. However, Nantucket’s eventual rejection of Leslee shows how class is only somewhat correlated with wealth, and depends also on becoming conduct, refinement, and elegance, all of which Leslee ignores when she flouts numerous social norms.

Personal Reinvention

Through the contrasting journeys of different characters in Swan Song, Hilderbrand explores what it takes for self-transformation to truly succeed.

Several characters explicitly start the book looking for a new identity. Sharon is searching for herself post-separation; Coco talks her way into the Richardsons’ employ, hoping for her big break; the Richardsons arrive in Nantucket to climb to the top of its social hierarchy. Each of these fresh starts follows a setback or period of failure; however, their efforts are marked by stark differences between these past negative experiences, and by differing levels of self-awareness.

The challenges that lead Sharon and Coco to seek reinvention are vastly different than those of the Richardsons’. Sharon and Coco are both looking for a way out of circumstances that were mostly out of their control: Sharon’s husband left her after an affair with his physiotherapist; Coco is doing her best to escape the poverty she grew up with. Ready to change how they see themselves, Sharon and Coco pursue their latent talents, both as aspiring writers. In contrast, the setback that pushes the Richardsons to Nantucket is entirely of their own making. As Blythe Buchanan tells Coco, the Richardsons were on track to receiving membership at a prestigious club in Palm Beach, but Leslee ruined their chances with her inappropriate behavior. Now, rather than transforming herself internally, Leslee assumes that a change of location is enough to accomplish the kind of status upgrade she wants.

Leslee’s lack of self-awareness leads to her downfall, while Sharon and Coco’s success comes from their willingness to learn from their experiences. Through her relationship with Romeo, Sharon sees how fundamental the problems in her marriage were; thus, when a chance at reconciliation with Walker presents itself, she rejects him for Romeo. Similarly, when Coco faces a roadblock with her screenplay in Bull’s rejection, she takes his critique to heart and pens a new one about her summer on the island—a script that is wildly successful. On the other hand, Leslee’s reinvention is not authentic, as she repeats the same mistakes over again, using people for selfish ends and incapable of forming genuine attachments not based on money or status. Thus, the novel argues that personal reinvention only works if it is based on self-reflection, not selfish aspiration.

Betrayal and Poetic Justice

Hilderbrand uses betrayal in relationships and the aftermath to deliver poetic justice in the larger context of the story.

The novel’s many romantic relationships are rife with betrayals of different kinds. Sharon is introduced as a woman reeling from infidelity: Her husband has left her for a younger woman he had an affair with. Kacy is dealing with romantic heartbreak of another sort: Her girlfriend Isla refuses to come out to and break up her fiancé (though, ironically, the novel treats the cheating that Kacy and Isla do as less morally suspect). Leslee’s behavior, meanwhile, shows her willingness to betray her spouse, who seems resigned but not particularly enamored by her sexual aggressiveness. Leslee continually latches on to other men, including Sharon’s new paramour, Romeo, and Andrea’s husband, Ed. Moreover, Leslee exploits her power as an employer to come on to Lamont and prevent Lamont and Coco from being together. It is a testament to these men’s constancy that none takes Leslee up on her offer.

Betrayal plays out across platonic relationships as well. Phoebe’s growing closeness to Leslee—which begins to look like favoritism—creates tension between Delilah and her friends. Leslee is aware of Delilah’s feelings and manipulates the dynamics within the friend group to her own benefit. Elsewhere, Eddie grows increasingly uncomfortable and upset with Addison because Bull attempts to get one of them to cut the other out of their original three-way deal. The wedge between Eddie and Addison grows because Bull actively dishonors the spirit of their original agreement to play one against the other. In both cases, the Richardsons dramatically upset the dynamics of the friendships they touch.

The Richardsons’ many social deceptions are eventually compounded by the revelation that they’ve committed actual crimes as well: Bull’s company has been skirting laws in the US and in Indonesia, while Leslee turns out to be an arsonist and fraudster. Hilderbrand thus steadily ups their villainy and its effects on other characters in a way that makes their dramatic downfall justified and satisfying for readers. The ending thus doles out poetic justice, with the Richardsons appropriately punished by losing precisely that which they attempted to steal from others. Leslee has belittled Coco as her employee, so Coco becomes a wildly successful screenwriter. She also attempted to break up Delilah’s friendship with Phoebe but ends up friendless herself. Similarly, Bull tried to maneuver Eddie and Addison into making bad business decisions and undermining each other, but Bull is the one who loses his company and financial standing. However, not all betrayals are punished: Coco has no comeuppance for deceiving the Richardsons or diving off the boat to incriminate Leslee and Kacy is never punished for participating in an affair. By offloading all of the negative consequences onto the Richardsons, Hilderbrand allows the other somewhat morally gray characters to escape consequences.