There is so much that I loved about this book! I love books set on the cliffs of Maine, with stories about the women who lived in them and those that came after. There is a LOT in this book, and I can see how that might seem long and meandering to some, but for me it was a wonderful novel about women's history, what stories get told, and by whom and how they are told. It delves into contemporary history, Native American history, the Shakers, ship captains and colonists, and draws it all together with one house and its many stories. There were a couple of aspects of Jane's story that I didn't love, but overall this really worked for me. Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for the advance digital copy!

The Cliffs is the story of an old, isolated house sitting high on a cliff in Maine coastal town. I am always up for a mysterious house story and this one did not disappoint. Lots of mysteries, heartbreaks, and interconnected stories kept me reading. Jane, the main character, is an alcoholic and the book chronicles her struggles with her family and addiction. My main issue was the number of stories. They were all interesting and ended up tied together, but I got the feeling the author was trying to be all things to all people. I did enjoy the book and will check out Ms. Sullivan's other books.
I rated this as 3.5 stars but rounded up to 4.

I really enjoyed the story part of this book - a woman returns to her hometown after her mother’s death to spend some time away from her husband after behaving poorly at an important work event. While there she deals with her own alcoholism and learns more about her mother, sister and grandmother. She also learns a lot about the original inhabitants of her hometown. The story also touches on ghosts, reincarnation, alcoholism, shakers, and Native Americans. There is a lot of detail on Native American culture.
What I didn’t enjoy quite as much were the lessons. I will admit to glossing over some paragraphs that felt like I was reading a textbook.
Overall I did enjoy the story and I felt immersed in the beauty of the location. Thank you Netgalley for the digital ARC.

J. Courtney Sullivan's "The Cliffs" intertwines the lives of three women across generations on the Irish coast, blending folklore with modern challenges. Sullivan's evocative prose and intricate character development create a poignant exploration of love, loss, and resilience against the backdrop of a hauntingly beautiful landscape.

Beautifully written but felt long at times. Liked the multiple POVs but sometimes felt like maybe too many to keep me intrigued. Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy!

I loved this one! Another great summer read. The Cliffs is perfect atmospheric writing with great descriptions of food and settings. I loved the plot of this one and was really rooting for Jane. I also appreciated the history Sullivan wove into this one, and the ways in which she tried to honor indigenous women. I look forward to recommending this one to my book club!

Thank you to Netgalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor | Knopf for the advanced copy of the book. This just wasn’t the book for me. I felt that there was too much going on and too many subplots that intertwined with one another. I also felt that it was too long and there were long paragraphs of explanations and not actions. This is being a bit nitpicky but as the child of an alcoholic I wish I had known before I read the book how prevalent addiction and alcoholism was a part of the plot. If I had known I don’t think I would have read the book, personally.

2.5 stars rounded up

I struggled with this one. When I started, I thought it might be a story about a family and their drama. Then a mystery was introduced and I thought it might concentrate on that. But the story did neither.

It seemed to focus more on Jane and her story - but there are multiple POV with full storylines with their own characters and timeline. It was jarring, confusing and bogged the story down. I kept wondering what would come next because the story didn't focus all the time on the house or secrets. The chapters are long and their focus isn't always Jane and her current crisis.

I wish I'd liked this one more but I found it just wasn't for me.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

Thank you so much to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for the ARC!

From the description alone, this really sounds like the perfect kind of read for me. I love literary fiction especially when it involves messy family drama, old houses, and this one also said GHOSTS? Sign me up!

It started out rather slow and I even had to re-start a couple times because my mind kept wandering while reading. While it did pick up a little bit, ultimately I just don't think it was for me. It seemed to go off the rails for me around 30% in and it didn't hold my attention like I wished it would.

On a positive note, I love the cover and I'm sure this will be big hit. Lots of positive reviews so take mine with a grain of salt.

This will be available July 2nd!

Overall, this was an interesting read with overlapping stories told through different centuries and perspectives as they relate to one location on the coast of Maine. Overall I enjoyed the redemptive character arc and generational trauma. The book was obviously well-researched but at times it felt a bit too much like a research paper and I’m not sure quite so much exposition was required although that may be because I’m fairly well-acquainted with Spiritualism and repatriation.

Sullivan’s provocative latest is the story of a purple Victorian and the land on which it sits, overlooking the ocean in Maine. The present day storyline doesn’t hold the same allure as the past dramas, but this juicy summer tale remains immersive, nuanced, and highly discussable.

The premise to this novel sounded promising, but the pacing felt a bit off and it was always a struggle to pick the book back up after setting it down.

WOW! This book was such a compelling read about our family histories, the histories of physical places, and the history of the land around us.

Growing up, Jane Flanagan doesn't feel connected to her mother and sister so she seek refuge in an old abandoned house on a secluded bluff in her hometown. After moving away and working as a Harvard archivist of women's stories, she returns home. Ostensibly, this is to pack up and sell her grandmother's/mother's house since her mother has passed away. But she is also running away from her life after a judgement error impacts her job and her marriage.

Once home, she goes back to the house to find it completely renovated by a new owner. When the new owner, Genevieve, learns of Jane's profession, she hires her to look into the history of her new home that she is convinced is haunted. As Jane does research she learns the stories of the past inhabitants and the women who lived there - and may still be present.

I am a big fan of J. Courtney Sullivan's other books, so I was excited to have the opportunity to preview her next one, The Cliffs, with a gifted digital copy from NetGalley. However, this is did not live up to her other books, though I had hope for her to bring it all together.

The book reads like the author has done a ton of research on a lot of different topics, and she wants to cram it all in one book, but isn't really sure how. This book covers a historical home, Native American tribes, stories, and reparation fights in Maine, spiritualists, the Shakers, alcoholism, and grief all in one book. There are several ghost sightings, but then never again. There are many references to David, the main character's husband throughout the book but we never get to know him, or even see him in the book until the end. Other characters appear and reappear throughout the book, which could be main players, but they come in and out randomly. Toward the end there is a serious chapter on the effects on alcoholism on relationships, and I felt this was both too late in the book (too late to give understanding about characters) and it felt like a bit of a lecture, which I didn't need. There is also a lengthy "article" about tragedies that the tribe of Native Americans suffered at the hands of English explorers, which also seemed kind of random, only put there to be informative and bring attention to these atrocities. Interesting and necessary to know and honor, but this book was not the place for it. There are a couple characters that were brought up as Shakers, another interesting thing to learn about, but one of the characters leads her own chapter, which I enjoyed, but I was not sure of the necessity of having her suddenly be a main focus. I was enjoying the beginning of this book, but overall, by the end when things started to get more serious, I was over it and just wanted to be finished. It did not have a flow and left you not caring about any characters because those who you cared about in the beginning suddenly were not nice, the whole thing just fell apart. Really too bad since I have felt that J. Courtney Sullivan was always one of my go to authors. But this one I will not be recommending. Go for The Engagements or Maine instead.

I received an advanced copy of this book through NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The author is very talented and I've read her other books- Maine being a favorite. I think The Cliffs could have been great, but it was trying to be 2 very different kinds of books. I appreciated the history lesson and importance of Native American origins of the land. I didn't particularly care for Jane as a person. I found it hard to believe Genevieve hires her. The ghost stories and psychic medium was interesting but as a reader, skeptical and bogged down by long chapters and no easy breaks. The Cliffs dragged.

3 of 5 stars. Out 7/16/24.

1.5⭐️s rounded up. Honestly, I disliked 90% of this book. The only reason I didn’t DNF it was because it was an ARC and I didn’t feel right leaving a review without finishing it.

I could not stand Jane. I know that’s probably sort of the point but a main character who has an enormous victim-mentality, blames everyone for her problems and her alcoholism, wants everyone to chase her but has no concept about herself fixing things or apologizing, and is an overall judgmental snob, for most of the book is not enjoyable.

The heavy pushing of psychic medium and reincarnation that was threaded thru the book was unexpected and bizarre. I anticipated based on the description it would be a lot of historical threads for the house and cliffs that were the setting but each past character only got a chapter at most and then it was Jane and her alcoholism or all sorts of psychic, speaking with the dead.

In addition, the historical Native American focus could have been really interesting - definitively more interesting than the rest of the book, honestly - but the majority (outside of the last chapter) felt like a browbeating. I completely agree that the treatment of the Native Americans and their land was horrendous and awful. But it felt conveyed with a pretentious superiority rather than creating a sense of empathy and allowing a space for learning thru the people’s stories.

Overall I just really disliked the book on so many levels.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are mine.

There was A LOT going on in this novel, with multiple longs trips down a couple different rabbit holes that I'm not sure were entirely necessary. While I found the tangents interesting, it felt disjointed. Some of the backstories could definitely have been abbreviated. Also, the chapters were very long, which is a pet peeve of mine, and the pace was a little slow. That being said, I enjoyed the story overall.

I absolutely loved Sullivan's Saints for All Occasions and have also enjoyed several of her other books. Thus, I was really looking forward to reading The Cliffs. The premise of the book is compelling, and I adore the setting in Maine (one of my favorite places). However, my enjoyment of the book was severely hampered by the frequent "info dumps" on topics ranging from Native American history, past life regression, Quaker life, and more. Don't get me wrong, I think these topics are crucial and were absolutely relevant to the plot and characters. However, in this book the presentation was so didactic that it pulled me away from the bones of the story. The long chapters (especially those from other POVs) also had this effect. In short, this book could have been an amazing story of a woman struggling with substance abuse as she seeks to discover the mysteries of a place she loves, but it just didn't come together for me. A disappointing read from an author I love.

I'm a bit torn on this one. On the plus side, it was incredibly unique and educational. It was definitely unlike any book I've ever read. On the negative side, the plot lines felt too many to me and the way they interacted didn't totally work for me. Some connections felt forced and others didn't totally make sense to me. I also wanted to empathize with the MC but it was hard because she was so judgmental of others. Overall, it was a middle-of-the-road read.

While I don't usually choose to read "ghost stories," The Cliffs is by author J. Courtney Sullivan, who's name alone makes me want to read the book. I found myself drawn into the story quickly, and I enjoyed the multiple viewpoints that were in longer sections than a typical multi-generational timeline format of alternating chapters. I felt myself being fully immersed in each character as I read her story in her respective timeline. The main character, Jane (present day), was complex and entirely human. The Cliffs is not your typical summer beach read, but it still embodied the same spirit that always has me longing for long days at the beach with a good book.