Hollis Shaw

Hollis Shaw is the protagonist of The Five-Star Weekend. She is in her fifties. Hollis runs a popular culinary blog. She is known for her perfectionism.

To begin, Hollis struggles to cope with her grief over her husband Matthew’s death. She especially struggles with the fact that they fought right before he died in a car crash. Hollis feels guilty for letting her marriage disintegrate without trying harder to repair it. The discovery that Matthew was disloyal to her—yet wanted to make things work in the end—helps Hollis let go of her pain.

The second major problem in Hollis’ life is her strained relationship with her daughter, Caroline. Hollis has a hard time reading Caroline’s moods. She wishes they could unite in their grief, instead of being torn apart. Caroline’s grief makes her selfish to the point that she cannot recognize Hollis...