I have always enjoyed Sullivan’s novels, but this was a disappointment. It is all over the place, a hodgepodge of various topics glued together by the main character, Jane.
Jane struggles with alcoholism, her destroyed marriage, her job loss and with all this, she then explores, Native American history, Spiritualism and the influence of the Shakers. OMG, just all over the place. Of course, to go with these topics are many, many, many names. As a reader, I had no idea of who would return, and who would just be dropped.

Oh, there’s also a house that becomes central to all these stories. The author also goes through the history of the house, more crowds of characters and names. Then there is the added lesbian love story tossed in.
I have no idea of what this was about except a stew of dozens of unfinished ideas and explorations which all are left hanging. Somehow, at the end. Sullivan attempts to give the reader a very unlikely closure, which left me unsatisfied.

If the editor wrote a list of every character/name in this novel, it would be obvious that a great author has written something barely readable.

Thank you Netgalley for sharing this book, which doesn’t exhibit the talent of the author.

I loved this book. Learning about the history of Maine was so fascinating. The Abenaki and the Shakers were so interesting.

J. Courtney Sullivan has written movingly about Irish Catholics in. New England and their struggles with alcohol, family, and religion. "The Cliffs" has all of this and much, much more. In this novel she takes on slews of other topics. Too many? Let's see.

Jane Flanagan is a lonely girl who escapes her hard-drinking mother and sister by hanging out at an old lavender house on the edge of a cliff near her Maine home. The house looks as if the people just walked out one day and never returned. It's irresistible to a teen, and turns out to be irresistible to Jane twenty years later when she returns to clean out her mother's house. She's now a Harvard archivist, but her behavior at a gala opening--blackout drunk--has endanged he career and her marriage. The lavender Victorian has been purchased by a wealthy couple and the wife hires Jane to research the house's history. Genevieve is spurred to do this because she believes her son is seeing a ghost.

Jane's research will expose her to spiritualism, Native American history, centuries of colonialism, the Shakers, one-percenters, murder and more. Some of these sidebars are fascinating and the others are lectures. It would have been wonderful if discussion of colonialism did not have a finger-shaking delivery that stops the narrative short. Sullivan is taking on some important issues and it's a shame that they are not better integrated into the story.

What works is that you really do want to find out what went on in the lavender house. You care about Jane, and although you won't know what she did at that gala for quite some time (It's pretty cringy,) her brilliance, loneliness, drive, and prickly humanity made me root for her.

3.5 stars rounded up. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital review copy of "The Cliffs" In exchange for an honest review.

Yikes. This book was not for me. It started out great. An abandoned house, a little boy seeing a ghost, secrets, & house with history that has been forgotten. However, for a lot of it I felt like I was being lectured. A history lesson of the Shakers & Indigenous people. Indians being mistreated. A woman dealing with alcoholism & a contentious relationship with her family. The chapters were incredibly long. One was over an hour long. When you feel like you’re being lectured, well, my eyes were getting glazed over. This felt all over the place. I enjoyed the house & wanted more from that & the ghost angle. Unfortunately, by 80% I was ready for it to be done. I personally felt like this story didn’t have the flow that made me want to keep reading.