CHARACTER
The Five-Star Weekendby Elin Hilderbrand

Matthew Madden

Matthew Madden

Quick Facts

  • Role: Deceased husband of the protagonist, Hollis Shaw; renowned cardiac surgeon whose death catalyzes the plot
  • First appearance: Prologue (in memory and flashback)
  • Age at death: 55
  • Key relationships: Hollis Shaw (wife), Caroline Shaw-Madden (daughter), Gigi Ling (mistress), Electra Undergrove (Hollis’s former friend and catalyst of exposure)
  • Notable details: Known as “Mr. Wonderful,” handsome in family portraits, remembered in a suit with a festive red Vineyard Vines tie and the scent of Kiehl’s shaving lotion

Who They Are

Though physically absent, Matthew Madden dominates the novel as a force of memory, myth, and revelation. His death ignites Hollis’s arc of grief and healing, and the unraveling of his private choices reshapes how everyone—especially Hollis and Caroline—understands their family. Matthew is both the golden standard of public success and the man who fractured that ideal in secret, a contradiction that becomes the engine of the story.

Personality & Traits

Matthew’s defining tension is the dissonance between his flawless public image and the complicated, often painful truth of his private life. Early memories show him as attentive, romantic, and proud; recent years reveal distance, evasion, and deception. The novel doesn’t flatten him into villain or saint—it shows a man whose late decision to return home complicates judgment and keeps his humanity intact.

  • Accomplished and Respected: A “leading cardiac surgeon and international lecturer,” Harvard Medical School professor, and admired figure whose prestige helps project a “perfect” family life.
  • Distant and Dismissive: In the months before his death, he calls their annual holiday party “your party” and uses the “doctor’s trick of appearing to listen but not,” which Hollis recognizes as stonewalling rather than care.
  • Secretive and Deceptive: He sustains a year-long affair with Gigi Ling, lies about travel, and plans “their Christmas” in Paris, disguising it as a professional trip to visit Dr. Schrader in Berlin.
  • Formerly Romantic: Earlier in the marriage, he builds a Monet-inspired footbridge over their pond because Hollis loves Giverny—grand gestures that once made their love feel expansive and seen.
  • Devoted Father: He shares a “special bond” with Caroline, creates cherished Nantucket traditions, and becomes her “favorite parent,” which intensifies her grief and later fury at the truth.
  • Privately Unsupportive of Hollis’s Fame: He is bemused—and at times annoyed—by her Hungry with Hollis success; he and Caroline tease her fans, and he never clearly celebrates her achievements.

Character Journey

Matthew’s arc unfolds posthumously, through reframed memories and devastating revelations. At first, he is the beloved husband whose sudden death shatters a family; as the truth of his affair with Gigi emerges, that image fractures, revealing a double life that erodes Hollis’s idealized marriage. The novel’s final turn restores complexity: in Chapter 48: Accident Report II, Gigi shares that Matthew ended the affair during their last call, and the accident report shows he had turned the car toward home. He dies in motion back to his marriage—an act that doesn’t erase the betrayal but reframes his final choice as one of recommitment, complicating how Hollis grieves and how readers judge him.

Key Relationships

  • Hollis Shaw: Matthew and Hollis’s relationship is the novel’s emotional core—once grand and romantic, later brittle with avoidance and unspoken discontent. His death forces Hollis to interrogate the marriage’s reality versus its performance and to confront the novel’s questions about The Nature of Love and Marriage.
  • Caroline Shaw-Madden: Caroline idolizes her father, and their traditions on Nantucket make him her “favorite parent.” The affair’s revelation doesn’t just topple Matthew’s pedestal—it destabilizes Caroline’s identity and loyalty, driving conflict with Hollis as Caroline must reconcile love for the father she knew with the man he was.
  • Gigi Ling: Matthew lies to Gigi about being divorced, sustaining a transatlantic affair for over a year. His final act—ending the relationship to return to Hollis—shapes Gigi’s reckoning as much as Hollis’s, binding both women to a truth that is painful and, in different ways, liberating.
  • Electra Undergrove: A former friend of Hollis’s, Electra publicly exposes Matthew’s link to Gigi at the Galley Beach lunch. She becomes the accelerant for the book’s climactic reveal, forcing hidden knowledge into the open where it can no longer be managed or denied.

Defining Moments

Matthew’s presence is felt through memories and documents that upend assumptions and redefine his legacy.

  • The Final Argument (in Chapter 1: Prologue): Matthew and Hollis clash over his trip and their growing distance. Why it matters: His parting line—“You’ve changed. And we’ve changed.”—lodges in Hollis’s guilt and primes the reader to see a marriage already in crisis.
  • The Giverny Bridge (in Chapter 4: Chapter 11-15 Summary): He surprises Hollis with a Monet-style footbridge over their pond. Why it matters: This tangible symbol of devotion makes the later betrayal hurt more; it’s proof he once paid exquisite attention to her joys.
  • The Revelation of the Affair (in Chapter 43: Table 20 and Chapter 46: The Hot Seat): Electra’s accusation prompts Gigi’s full confession. Why it matters: The myth of “Mr. Wonderful” collapses, forcing Hollis and Caroline to rewrite their histories with him in real time.
  • The Final Phone Call and Accident Report: Gigi reveals he broke up with her, and the report shows he had turned toward home. Why it matters: His last decision injects moral complexity and a wedge of grace—he dies attempting repair, not escape.

Symbolism

Matthew embodies Authenticity vs. Public Persona: the acclaimed surgeon, ideal husband and father—“Mr. Wonderful”—whose private life harbors dissatisfaction and betrayal. His story also anchors the book’s exploration of Secrets and Deception, showing how performances of perfection can mask fractures until a single revelation shatters the façade.

Essential Quotes

“You’ve changed. And we’ve changed.”

This line, delivered in their last argument, crystallizes the marriage’s drift and denies Hollis an easy narrative of tragic perfection. It both indicts and absolves—acknowledging mutual transformation while leaving Hollis with unanswerable what-ifs after his death.

“With all the Swellesley glitterati in attendance, you won’t even notice I’m not there.”

Matthew’s dismissal of the holiday party exposes his contempt for Hollis’s social world and his retreat from shared rituals. The snide tone reveals how private disdain can hide beneath public polish.

“I want to work on my marriage... I love her, Gigi.”

In Gigi’s account of their final call, Matthew’s words reframe him not as a man bent on escape but as someone who, at the last moment, chooses repair. The confession doesn’t erase harm, but it complicates his legacy with intention and remorse.

“Because of how much you loved Giverny.”

This explanation for the footbridge captures Matthew’s earlier attentiveness and romantic imagination. It’s the tactile memory Hollis can hold—a reminder that love existed, making the later betrayal feel like a violation of something once carefully cherished.