The Cliffs by J Courtney Sullivan is a slow burn historical fiction, which examines the history of an abandoned Victorian mansion on the cliffs of a little town on the coast of Maine and its inhabitants.

When a teenage Jane Flanagan discovers the abandoned home as a teenager, it becomes her safe place - it's where she escapes to her with best friend Allison or just by herself - to read, to study, to get away from her complicated mother and underprivileged life. The house is a mystery unto itself, filled with furniture, dishes in the cabinets, clothes in the closets, marbles still scattered across the floor - a still life of days gone by, a home that it appears the inhabitants walked away from in the middle of their lives, never to return.

Two decades later, a broken Jane returns to her hometown with her marriage and career on the brink of collapse. Jane, a historian and archivist at Harvard, has a chance meeting with Genevieve, the new owner of the mysterious home, who wants to hire her to trace the house's history and its inhabitants because Genevieve believes the mysterious home is haunted by its prior inhabitants.

As Jane uncovers the long and heartbreaking history that unfolded in the house and atop those cliffs, she also uncovers how the interconnectedness of a place, its people, and its events shapes everything and everyone around it.

Four stars, a good read for lovers of historical fiction with a touch of magical realism sprinkled in.

I received a free copy of, The Cliffs, by J. Courtney Sullivan, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. In Maine sits a house on the cliffs, a neglected house that draws Jane Flanagan to it. Twenty years later Jane is back, and the house has a new owner, and is getting repaired. This book has a lot going on. I enjoyed this book, it was a captivating read.

I loved everything about J. Courtney Sullivan's latest book The Cliffs! It is a beautiful meditation on female friendship, the relationship between mothers, daughters, and sisters, and how the generations of women who came before us impact how we live today. It also explores ideas of loss, memory, and whose stories are told - and, more importantly, aren't told - by our cultural institutions.

After a devastating personal incident, Jane - an Archivist at the Schlesinger Library - returns to her mother's home in Southern Maine. She becomes involved in researching the history of a 19th century house that overlooks the rocky coast and uncovers (with the help of a medium!) information about the lives the women who lived there, including the wife of a ship captain, an orphan who was adopted into a Shaker community, and an artist in the mid-20th century. Along the way, the reader also learns about the indigenous Abenaki and Penobscot women who lived for generations on the land of Jane's hometown.

Throughout the book, I felt like Jane was a friend I'd love to have a long conversation with. I will return to this novel again and again and will recommend it to my own friends.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review; all opinions are my own.

DNF…..I tried a couple of times to get into this book and it’s not for me. I found it difficult to relate to the characters and the story. I got to about page 60 and found that I could not concentrate. My mind kept wandering and I had to restart paragraphs multiple times. I finally gave up. I’m sorry but it just didn’t get interested this story.
#thecliffs
#netgalley

I received an early copy of the book from NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor | Knopf. This is my honest review.
I enjoyed this story. It started out strong, slowed down a bit in the middle but then picked back up for the ending. There is quite a bit going on as the story moves from present day to the past and back again, told from the viewpoint of various women. The history of the indigenous people of Maine, the Shakers, legends that are based on truths, ghosts and modern day secrets all combine for an interesting read. The only trigger warning that my be needed is there is a family history of alcoholism in the modern section of the story.
#HistoricalFiction #IndigenousPeople #Ghosts #Alcoholism

The Cliffs was an amazing story with some history, some mystery and a little ghost story mixed in. I loved how the author delved into the history of the indigenous peoples of Maine. The mystical was woven artfully without being too woo woo.

The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan is a complex novel that intricately weaves several themes into a story about the significance of place through time. I can’t even begin to comprehend the level research that went into this work - from Native American tribes of New England and English explorers to Spiritualism and Shakers. There is a lot going on here, but the author does a fantastic job of bringing together all of the elements into a satisfying conclusion.

There is a very strong female narrative, as told by several women at many different points in time. The story explores the ways with which women’s lives are shaped by tragedies of the present and the past, as well as the struggles between connectedness and independence. It delves into weighty topics such as the far reaching effects of alcoholism, the legacy of colonialism and its impact on indigenous communities, and alternatives to a patriarchal worldview, such as Spiritualism and Shaker beliefs.

I found the juxtaposition of the danger inherent in romantic relationships with the deepest love between a mother and a daughter fascinating. The reconsideration of not just what story is told, but how and by whom also really resonated.

Lastly, I enjoyed reading about some familiar places, such as the Schlesinger Library and Cambridge, as well as a few mentions of locations across update New York.

I’m excited to read Sullivan’s previous novels and I hope to explore southern Maine someday! Many thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for the ARC!

Story set in Maine in two different time frames. It was confusing at first, but I eventually got on board. I enjoyed the novel over all, but didn't love it the way I loved some of her other books. It had some history of Maine and the Native Americans who lived there combined with the current story of an alcoholic that kind of crashed her life.

Thank you Net Galley for my advance ebook copy of this book. I wanted to love this book; at first I was really into the story and quickly read a hundred pages. Then I'm not sure why but it just dragged on and was a little choppy. I think it might have been too many characters to keep track of but I enjoyed how they were all connected at the end of the book. I also appreciated the historical aspect and enjoyed learning more about Maine.

I liked the general plot line and characters were likable enough. What I struggled with was how often as the plot started picking up the pace...boom - there is a long essay dealing with art history or indigenous people or women's history. It took me out of the story.

US pub date: 7/16/24
Genre: contemporary fiction
Quick summary: Jane grew up in a small town in Maine, but a lot has changed when she returns 20 years later. Starting with her favorite house in the town - now occupied by a Bostonian who's gutted it and thinks it's haunted - can the two of them figure out the truth?

I haven't spent a lot of time in Maine, so I loved the chance for armchair travel! Sullivan did a wonderful job setting the atmosphere and bringing something new to the well-trodden "summer people vs year-round residents" narrative. There are historical and social justice aspects to the story as well, including discussion of the tribes originally native to the area. The book slowed down a bit in the middle, but the ending came together really well. This may be my favorite of Sullivan's books, and I think readers looking for a beach read with a little more weight will enjoy it!

Thank you to Knopf for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love love love all of J. Courtney Sullivan's books, and this one is no exception, but it is a deviation. There is a deeper history lesson here, with some paranormal elements, as well as deep dives into alcoholism and colonialism. It’s not a beach read! But still worth reading.

I love Courtney Sullivan and was very excited to read this however reading this book dragged for me. There are several themes including alcoholism, indigenous people's rights, ghosts, mediums and more; it didn't feel like any of these themes really gelled together into a cohesive story. It felt like several vignettes put together in an unaligned way. Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the ARC!

I'm not sure what repatriation of Native American artifacts, spiritualism, and alcoholism in families, with a little bit of feminism thrown in all have to do with each other, but Ms. Sullivan has blended all these themes together to create a story that is so compelling that it sticks with the reader. BUT even though all these ideas are important on their own, I think it is the Jane's personal story that is the one that I was most interested in. The other characters--Genevieve, Allison, Holly, Marilyn, her mother and grandmother, and even dead Eliza, support Jane and scaffold her journey to true sobriety and her realization of what she is meant to do with her life. For those of us who know Maine, the townspeople and place descriptions ring true, as none of the characters are all bad or all good and all the circumstances are perfect--just like in real life.

This book has so much appeal for readers -- it is both a page-turner and a book with much to say about Native American history and culture, and about the ravages of alcoholism. Jane Flanagan, a Harvard archivist, returns to her coastal Maine hometown in disgrace. As the result of one horrible night, she has lost both her husband and her job. Her mother has recently died and she is charged with getting the house ready to sell. In the meantime, she meets Genevieve, who along with her ultra-wealthy husband, has purchased an historic home that Jane has been obsessed with since she was a teenager. Genevieve ends up hiring Jane to research the house's history. There are ghosts, psychics, mediums, unscrupulous antique dealers and lots and lots of history. I truly look forward to recommending this book.

This is a hard review to write because I have liked books by J Courtney Sullivan in the past but I really can’t recommend The Cliffs, her latest novel, due to be published on July 6, 2024. I received this ARC thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House.
The problem with this story was that it seemed to me that the author got too caught up in teaching about so many varied things that it became tedious and confusing, so that I often lost track of all the different characters and their story. Her lessons included the history of the Native American Indians of northern New Hampshire and southern Maine, the horrible way they were treated and the theft of their artifacts, culture, and traditions and their eventual forced migration to Canada by the European whites; the history of the white explorers and settlers to the region; the Shaker community and its history; spiritualism and the spirits of the dead who “live on” in their former homes; and, finally, the effects of alcoholism, not only on the alcoholic, but on family, friends, and even future generations. And within all these different “lessons” there were stories of several different characters in different time periods. So confusing.
It took me a long time to read this because all the didactic sharing got boring and I would put it down. As I said, I can’t recommend this book.

The Cliffs is the story of many women and their intertwined lives and the house on the cliff that they called home. Each woman and her story takes you on a journey of their hopes and dreams with the background of the cliffs of Maine - a character in itself.

This book was one that made me want to curl up and read while also challenged me. Highly recommend J. Courtney Sullivan’s new book The Cliffs.

“In every graveyard in every town in all the world, there lie buried stories so thorny and full of unexpected turns that a name, a date, a designation on stone could never in a million years convey.”

Wow – a lot to process, but immediately upon finishing, I’m blown away. I loved it. "The Cliffs" is a slow-burn historical novel that centers around a mysterious abandoned home along the wooded cliffs of Maine. It takes us through the trials and tribulations of Jane, who first encounters the abandoned home as a kid, as well as the home’s current owners, those who lived colorful lives in it decades before, and those from hundreds of years before the home existed, when we learn about the stories that happened on that very land long before Maine became a state. The main story is told from Jane’s POV. In the prologue, she connects with the abandoned house, but we otherwise don’t know much about her relation to the property. Present day, she’s an archivist in Boston and goes back to her childhood hometown in Maine when her mom gets sick. She ends up extending her stay to avoid bigger issues unraveling back home in Boston.

The second half of the book gets convoluted while juggling too many big themes and storylines—spiritualism, mother/daughter relationships, the historic Shaker community, mistreatment of Native Americans, stolen artifacts and traditions, alcoholism, divorce, grief, Alzheimer’s—there were many points where the writing meandered far away from the main storyline. Regardless, Sullivan is a master storyteller, and you can tell this book was impressively researched. I also loved how the different stories intertwined.

Overall, this book is beautifully written and filled with reflective moments that made me tear up. "The Cliffs” pays homage to the legacy of people and place. What happens throughout the course of hundreds of years to one house, one piece of property. How history is not only written but embedded in a community, and the importance of preservation to remember what once was. Everyone has a story in this world, and it makes you wonder how the past influences the present. As Sullivan writes, “History could only ever be as meaningful as those alive were willing to make it.”

"The Cliffs" comes out in July 2024. Highly recommend, especially if you are a fan of Kristin Hannah.

An authentic portrayal of seacoast Maine that takes readers on a haunting journey through time. The book examines the power and strength of female and maternal bonds throughout time and the consequences of generational trauma. A page-turning and captavitating read that picks up where Maine ended.

Shortly after Commencement was published I was introduced to the books of J. Courtney Sullivan by an “elevators friend” who worked with her father. I have greatly enjoyed all her books since, for me The Cliffs is by far her best book. It is riches in details, full of intriguing, interesting characters, the story of beautifully told.