This is my first time reading J. Courtney Sullivan and definitely won’t be my last! What felt like two separate novels in her latest The Cliffs, were storylines that she brilliantly and stealthily wove together to become one compelling read centered around an old abandoned house near edge of some cliffs in Maine. Part mystery, part ghost story, with some history of the Indigenous people who once populated this area of Maine makes this an engaging and important book. I can’t wait to recommend this to our book groups!

Such a beautiful read. The writing was eloquent and thoughtful knowing when to change the pace and time period so it was seamless.
Jane was particularly well written. Her arc flowed so well and her turning point moment was quiet and profound. This whole book felt quiet and profound. It felt like I was visiting the exhibition in the house. Finding the treasures and life stories as I moved room to room. It calmed me and made my heart full.
Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC.

stunningly gorgeous, about a history of a beautiful home and how memories live on even when a person seems to be forgott3en. thanks for the arc.

I have enjoyed her other books but this was a little rough. I felt like it tried to do too much. Starting off with the main character in high school and then picking up when she was a middle aged woman making a mess of her life was interesting but then the book went into too many places. Interesting places like spiritualist communities and Native American history but it never felt cohesive to me. I think it should have been a book about a woman, a house and the families of both but the long passages about ghosts and ethics of antiquities were interesting but generally out of place. I felt like I was read three every different (good, interesting but different) books.

I found this a fascinating title. For a non librarian/archivist I thought she captured the profession well. What I found most impressive was the historical research about the indigenous population-I found it fascinating and will explore of the references cited. The personal narrative was almost secondary to me. Quite enjoyable.

Thank you to Knopf for this magnificent book. Combining a modern and heartbreaking story, with the history of so many women, both indigenous and Caucasian in this glorious part of Maine. History of the tribal women and a woman from a shaker colony brings this part of the country alive. Having read one previous book by this author, I will now go back and read all her books

I absolutely loved this book, but more than that, I learned so much from it and was so inspired by it. I originally requested this book because I recently read J. Courtney Sullivan’s “Maine” and really enjoyed it, but I truly was blown away by The Cliffs. Throughout the book, I kept thinking about how much research went into writing it (and the Author’s Note at the end covers this in some detail), and what a gift it is that Sullivan did so much work to bring us this beautiful story. In addition, Sullivan somehow managed to make every character—and there are many!—so rich in personality that I found myself loving, or at least empathizing with, every single one. I was so enthralled by this book that I didn’t take notes like I usually do when I know I’m going to write a review, and I want to apologize that this review isn’t more detailed! This book was just such a beautiful tribute to women throughout history.

One note - there are a lot of characters and timelines to keep track of! I wish I’d written down characters as I came across them. It does all come together perfectly, but I wish I’d created a reference guide for myself.

A very easy five stars for this book!

I have read some of the authors other books and enjoyed. This book started off well and midway took a few turns I didnt expect. It was well written but it went off in tangents in spots and lost a bit of the character development in the second half. It was fairly predictable how it would end, except for the family addition but I still enjoyed the story

I have read and loved all of J. Courtney Sullivan's previous books and was so excited to get an early copy of this one.

Jane has returned to her small hometown in Maine after a disaster that may end both her marriage and get her fired. Her mother died the year before, and she and her sister need to start sorting through her mother's house in order to get it ready to sell, so Jane decides to take this on while deciding what's next for her. As she meets the new owners of a house she was entranced by as a teenager, she starts learning more about the previous inhabitants of the house and the land around it.

The discussion of stolen historic artifacts and how far removed people are from the history of the places they occupy are so important and very well done - clearly J. Courtney Sullivan has done a lot of research and presented it in such a thoughtful way.

I loved this book. I loved Jane, I felt so much for her and her missteps and I so badly wanted everything to work out for her. I loved the way the story was told, as it moved through narrators and time and how pieces of the puzzle became clear.

J. Courtney Sullivan's writing is always so strong and I could so vividly picture the houses she describes, as well as the cliffs, and the town. I could feel all the people who had moved through the house and see the different iterations of it.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys rich storytelling, and multi-layered and generational stories with historical perspectives. I loved it so much and eagerly await J. Courtney Sullivan's next book!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!

The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan
Release date July 16

Initially drawn to this novel because of the title and this author’s previous works, I quickly became engrossed in this remarkably written and researched novel. Set in Maine in what is now known as Ogunquit this novel checks so many boxes for me.
Historical Preservation, Maine history, Civil War, Indigenous history and culture, Colonial Maine, Spiritualism and mediums, Shaker Villages, museum culture, etc.

I love that this story unfolds from alternating character viewpoints throughout history. I also deeply love the personal connections and secrets that unfold and how these characters are all tied to this particular seaside cliff and Victorian home.

Jane Flanagan returns home to Maine after 20 years to discover the once abandoned hideout of her troubled youth is now a transformed shiny unrecognizable monstrosity and the new owner, Genevieve needs her help in researching the home’s history.

Prepare to be swept away by this creative yet historically based story of lost loves, spirits, relationships, women in history, stolen artifacts and much more.

I really enjoyed this book. As a librarian I am drawn to “bookish” books that deal with libraries or archives, but often am disappointed by them. Usually, they have great premises that are intriguing but end up falling flat, or being kind of ridiculous. I was so glad this one didn’t fall into that category. I thought the set up was interesting, and that the twists and connections were well foreshadowed, but not so obvious that I was able to guess them all before they were revealed. I also really liked the interplay between the research and the spiritual, exploring both ways that people try to connect with the past. I also appreciated the layers put into the history, emphasizing the stories of women and native Americans that aren’t as prominent in our education and general ideas about history. All in all, I read this in about 48 hours, it definitely held my interest!

Another fabulous novel by immensely talented J Courtney Sullivan. Fabulous character development and meticulous plot development are her trademarks (IMO) and this novel hits the mark! Don’t miss it.

This book was less dramatic than the author's previous books. There was family drama but it was not as intense and that may have been partly that the family adultery, alcoholism, and birth out of wedlock was written in the past. The reader heard about it but the excitement of "living in the moment" was not as strong. That's not to say there was not any present day drama--there was, and it did lend the book excitement. I still enjoyed this book as much as her others, but on a different level. I ended the book with a feeling of awe of all that I learned in the book about Native American history. The author was able to weave in Native American history, mediums, spirit worlds AND a bit about the Shakers. This was a really interesting and diverse book that blended very well together. It may sound like a lot was going on in this book but it was not too much to take in.
I am sorry that I am unable to give the book and the author more than 5 stars--just an amazing novel. I am very appreciative of the digital ARC that I received from NetGalley and the publisher. This opinion is my own and I was not coerced to give a good review in any way.

I read and enjoyed "Maine" by J. Courtney Sullivan and was looking forward to reading her latest book, "The Cliffs," in which a house on the cliffs overlooking the sea in southern Maine plays an important role in the lives of several generations of women who encounter it. Sullivan is a skilled writer and I did enjoy the book, but I think it suffers a bit from being overambitious. "The Cliffs' juggles several storylines and in each one there are a lot of social issues going on: primary character Jane takes on the problem of appropriation of Native American art and culture as well as the fallout from a family inheritance of alcoholism; Genevieve's storyline introduces the summer-visitors-versus-year-round-resident tensions that exist in tourist communities as well as a deep dive into Spiritualism in 19th century American and New England in particular; Eliza's section takes on the history and life of the Shakers in 19th century New England; and Naomi's narrative is primarily devoted to recounting an oral history of the Abenaki people. Each part was obviously well researched and Sullivan is clearly passionate about each issue. I couldn't help feeling, however, that the scope of the book kept ballooning as Sullivan found more and more things she wanted to include (there is a part about the early 20th century American art scene as well) and the end result felt a bit unwieldy to me. That said, Sullivan does manage to thread the house and the land on which it sits through all these different plot lines, so perhaps I am being a bit unfair--I may have been wanting or expecting a more intimate family story when Sullivan planned a sweepingly historical novel all along. And readers who appreciate and gravitate to that genre will certainly enjoy "The Cliffs."

Thank you to NetGalley and to Alfred A. Knopf for providing me with an ARC of this title in return for my honest review.

Thank you to

I absolutely loved this book! I was super invested in the story from the very start, and the touch of the supernatural really hooked me. Jane was such a fascinating character and I couldn't get enough of her story. I loved all of the ways the book branched off in different directions and how it became the story of the different women who lived in the house on the cliffs, but structurally it felt very different (and better) to me than other books with dual timelines or the like. I also really enjoyed the educational aspect of the novel and I felt like I learned a lot of interesting history, but not in a way where it felt forced in - it really flowed with the story. I just loved this so much! I can't wait to get a paper copy so I can share a review with my followers on Instagram closer to pub date!

J. Courtney Sullivan is a must-buy author and The Cliffs is a must-buy book! Sullivan spins a complex story of Jane an archivist who comes to terms with her childhood, marriage, and career, by researching an old house in Maine that has secrets and stories of its own.

That you to NetGalley and to the publishers for this ARC. It actually pains me to write this review because I love J. Courtney Suillivan, I’ve read all of her books, and some of her books are my favorite but this was not for me at all. It was all over the place and I hated the ghost component.

I was super excited to get this one, but for some reason it just never was able to really capture my attention.

summer beach read alert! premise is wonderful and dreamy. the separate stories interweave flawlessly and all subplots felt full and whole. great, great, book

I am obsessed with J. Courtney Sullivan and am always SO excited when I see something new from her. As always, I was fully engrossed in this and finished it in a day. Love her writing.