Tatum McKenzie

Quick Facts

A year-round Nantucket local and “Teen Years” star of the Five-Star Weekend, Tatum McKenzie is the lifelong best friend of Hollis Shaw. She arrives carrying a secret breast biopsy and a 25-year grudge against her old rival, Dru-Ann Jones. Married to Kyle McKenzie and mother to Dylan, Tatum works cleaning houses for Irina Services. She’s interviewed over the weekend by Caroline Shaw-Madden, whose camera becomes a confessional.

Who They Are

Tatum is the keeper of the island’s memory—the version of Nantucket that existed before Hollis became a “summer person.” She embodies loyalty to place and people, but that loyalty has curdled into resentment, especially toward Hollis’s glamorous life and Dru-Ann’s perceived condescension. Underneath the prickly exterior is a woman bracing for terrible news, trying to control what she can (old scores, petty pranks) while fearing what she can’t (her health, the past).

Her story refracts the novel’s central concerns: revisiting old versions of ourselves, testing the durability of bonds, and confronting mortality. Through Tatum, the book stages a reckoning with Revisiting the Past and the knotty work of Friendship and Connection on the way to hard-won Grief and Healing.

Personality & Traits

Tatum’s personality is a study in contradictions: she’s tough yet tender, petty yet principled, self-protective yet fiercely loyal. Much of her volatility is defensive camouflage for real fear.

• Guarded, almost combative: Years of distance from Hollis make her suspicious of motives and quick to read slights—especially from Dru-Ann. The “shotgun” front-seat fight shows how minor provocations trigger deeper resentments.
• Mischievous and rule-breaking: She hides Hollis’s keys at the Stop & Shop and plants a rubber snake in Dru-Ann’s bed—petty acts that reclaim control and voice when she feels muted by class and history.
• Loyal to her core people: She declares to Caroline that Hollis has “always been my only best friend,” even during estrangement, and she conspires with Kyle to orchestrate emotional support for Hollis all weekend.
• Proud and class-conscious: The “Kmart pearls” humiliation at Hollis’s wedding lingers, making her defensive about cleaning houses for Irina Services and wary of anyone who flaunts wealth or taste.
• Stoic under dread: Waiting for biopsy results, she projects toughness—snapping, joking, drinking—while her fear flares in private confessions and sudden tears.

Character Journey

Tatum arrives armored: the island loyalist poised to judge, the friend poised to be hurt, the woman bracing for bad news. Her first cracks appear in the interview with Caroline, where she finally admits that as a teenager she intentionally threw the softball state championship—punishing Hollis for leaving Nantucket. Naming this betrayal converts amorphous bitterness into accountable guilt. On the sail aboard the Endeavor, she and Dru-Ann at last state the obvious: they were jealous of each other’s place in Hollis’s life. Apologies reset the rivalry into wary respect, then into genuine allyship. The weekend ends with Tatum’s negative biopsy call, a physical and emotional exhale that frees her to drop the armor. Her embrace with Hollis is more than personal relief; it’s a recommitment to a friendship remade with truth, not nostalgia.

Key Relationships

• Hollis Shaw: Tatum’s history with Hollis reads like sisterhood—shared island childhood, in-jokes, and lingering power to wound. The tension comes from Hollis’s departure into wealth: Tatum frames it as betrayal of their shared world, then realizes her own part in calcifying that narrative. By weekend’s end, they choose each other anew, not as who they were, but as who they are.

• Kyle McKenzie: High school sweetheart turned steady partner, Kyle is Tatum’s ballast. He supports her secret medical fear without pressing, joins her harmless pranks, and helps orchestrate the guest list that might heal Hollis—proof that Tatum’s mischief often aims at care.

• Dru-Ann Jones: Tatum’s longtime antagonist becomes a mirror. What Tatum read as condescension often masked Dru-Ann’s insecurities; what Dru-Ann read as surliness masked Tatum’s shame and class anxiety. Their confrontation aboard the Endeavor—naming jealousies, apologizing—turns rivals into allies.

• Jack Finigan: An easy friendship from the old crew, Jack represents the uncomplicated warmth of the past. Tatum teams with Kyle to bring Jack Finigan back to Nantucket, hoping his presence will anchor Hollis and remind everyone who they were at their best.

Defining Moments

Tatum’s arc pivots on moments where pride collides with vulnerability, and secrecy yields to truth.

• The confession to Caroline: She admits throwing the state championship softball game out of anger over Hollis leaving. Why it matters: Transforming buried resentment into a spoken wrong lets Tatum accept responsibility instead of clinging to grievance.
• The “shotgun” argument: A childish scramble for the Bronco’s front seat explodes into a decades-old war with Dru-Ann. Why it matters: The triviality underscores how old hurts hijack the present—forcing a necessary confrontation.
• Reconciliation on the Endeavor: Tatum and Dru-Ann exchange honest admissions and apologies while sailing. Why it matters: It reorders the friend group and frees Tatum from defining herself against Dru-Ann.
• The biopsy call: The negative result arrives at the weekend’s close. Why it matters: The relief punctures her defensive posture; the tearful embrace with Hollis signals forgiveness of others—and of herself.
• Pranks and pushback: From hiding Hollis’s keys to the rubber snake and the wine retort, Tatum reclaims her agency. Why it matters: These small rebellions reveal the pressure valve of humor and defiance in a life constrained by fear and class shame.

Essential Quotes

You have officially become a Summer Person, Holly. Just like you always wanted. This line crystallizes Tatum’s grievance: Hollis’s success feels like abandonment of their shared identity. The jab is half accusation, half lament—revealing Tatum’s attachment to a past she can’t preserve alone.

"I threw the game. I’ve been ashamed about it for thirty-five years. I robbed not only Hollis but our team and our school—hell, our island—of a championship title. I was the ultimate poor sport." A stark confession that converts ambient resentment into a concrete betrayal. By naming the island as the injured party, Tatum exposes how personal pain can masquerade as loyalty to place.

"I don’t care anymore what you think of me. If you don’t like my wine, don’t drink it." Defiance becomes dignity here. Tatum rejects taste-as-status judgments—aimed especially at Dru-Ann—and refuses to let class-coded critiques police her worth.

"I forgive you. I have bigger things to worry about now than my Kmart pearls." Tatum reframes an old humiliation with perspective born of fear. The line shows her priorities shifting: survival and love trump pride and status anxiety.

"I don’t want to die, Holly." The rawest admission strips away all performative toughness. Addressed to Hollis, it reconnects them at the most human level—fear, need, and the hope that someone will hold you through it.