I really wanted to like this, but it was just didactic and predictable and, honestly, kind of annoying.


Review copy provided by publisher.

This was initially hard to get into and there was a LOT of detail/background information but I forged on and it allll made sense. This ended up being so soooo good! I loved the history, all the back stories and how it was all connected - I really felt like the characters and stories were real, I will be thinking of this one for a long time. I wish the follow up of Daisy had been a bit more in depth, it would have been great to read her mother receiving the message, and to see if Jane ever connected with Celementine again about what she saw now that the message was delivered, that seemed to be the most driving force of the book and it slowly just tapered off. Other than that highly enjoyable and will def. be recommending!

This book was so well done. It is a tale of women throughout time in a very small town on the water in Maine. The story begins with a woman named Jane, and we meet Jane through the lens of her infatuation with a house on a cliff in the little town where she lives. Through the vehicle of the house, we meet people from the recent past, distant past, and the future. The story discusses so many interesting topics - colonialism, feminism, women's burdens, and so much more. The characters were so richly written that I felt as though I truly knew them. Not especially a fast read, but an in-depth and beautiful tale that I was happy to stay with an read for as long as it took. I would HIGHLY recommend this book.

This ebook was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

📚 The Cliffs
✍ J. Courtney Sullivan
📖 Women's Fiction/Historical Fiction
⭐3/5

🙏 Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor Publishing, NetGalley and J. Courtney Sullivan for the advanced copy of The Cliffs. All opinions are my own.
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🎯 What I loved: This was my second book set in Maine and focused on indigenous peoples in less than a month and I'm officially hooked on the topic. The Cliffs was a fascinating study in public memory and the way we preserve objects, stories and traditions and it shed light on so many ways that women are the keepers of history but not the faces of it. For anyone looking for a story centered around place but with intricately woven narratives that detail the devastating events of generations bound loosely together, The Cliffs is beautifully told and will leave you questioning your own origins.

🙅‍♀️ What I didn't: This had all the makings of a great story. Sullivan clearly did a ton of research on the setting, historical institutions in the Northeast and the history of indigenous peoples in Maine and crafted some fascinating characters bound by a common place...but the story was missing the cohesive driver to put it all together. There were parts that seemed like pure history dumps that weren't relevant to the plot and the overall flow of the book felt choppy. This was a far departure from Sullivan's debut, 'Commencement' which I read and loved years ago and while I enjoyed the direction she's gone as a writer, this book left something to be desired for me. Beyond just the story itself which jumped around and exposed bits and pieces of the characters at seemingly odd moments, some of the character arcs were disconnected from the larger story being told. While it made sense to include the stories of women who had lost fathers, husbands, lovers and children, the protagonist's story seemed a far cry from the other losses that shaped the experiences molded amongst the cliffside setting.
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Read if you love:
*multiple unique stories woven together with a common thread
*stories focused on indigenous people
*history through the lens of being a woman
*houses with stories that connect generations
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See also: No Two Persons, The Berry Pickers, Spells for Forgetting

This book was not for me. The chapters were incredibly long and I felt this was kind of all over the place. Definitely not for me.

I really enjoyed this story. Seemed so different and so well plotted! Some of the characters were a bit unlikeable but I totally understood why they were in there. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher!

I really liked this book! I like stories about old houses, so this book was very appealing to me. When Jane Flanagan is a young girl, she discovers an old abandoned Victorian mansion in the woods. When she returns 20 years later, the house has a new owner- Genevieve. Jane is hired by Genevieve to find out the history of the house. Even though there were several POV, I felt that each story was engaging. By the end of the book, I was eager to see how everything fit together. I want to read more by this author.
Thank you, Net Galley, the publisher and the author for a chance to read and review this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

A very educational historical novel that takes place over hundreds of years in Maine and the interactions and repercussions from the English and Abenaki tribes of the earlier years to renovating/destroying historical homes in current times. Mixed in are family struggles, death, alcoholism, and several others.
How do we acknowledge and correct the mistakes of our earlier ancestors, as I think the term forefathers, is part of the problem.


Thank you J Courtney Sullivan for writing such a content rich and powerful novel that we can all learn from and think about. That you acknowledge that we have unlearning to do is powerful
I have read all of your books and have seen you twice at book clubs, but this book will stay with me the most.

I wanted to love this so badly because it started off amazing with so many elements I love, but as it went on I felt like it dragged and I lost interest. It's well written and I can totally understand why people love this book.

J. Courtney Sullivan's upcoming novel THE CLIFFS (publishes July 2, 2024) demonstrates the strength among women when faced with generational and situational hardship. After a huge personal mistake when working at the Schlesinger Library, Jane takes a leave from both her professional and personal life and retreats to her family home in Maine to get the house ready to sell after her mother's death. There Jane becomes absorbed in a long-ago mystery with a Victorian mansion she became attached to as a teenager as well as she confronts some more personal metaphorical ghosts in her life.

While Jane is the main character, we see several perspectives through the novel. I enjoyed those perspectives because they all related to the main story in some way and heightened context.

Why I really liked this novel:
* The main character Jane - She's messy, she comes off hypocritical when she's judgmental toward her family yet has similar struggles to them. I like an imperfect main character who becomes more self-reflective and/or grows during the span of the story.
* I learned about New England Indigenous history as well as a bit of Shaker history as well as some local Maine and Boston geography.
* Multiple perspectives, particularly when they are intergenerational, add interesting layers.

What detracted a bit:
* The educational parts about Indigenous culture and Shaker history could be folded in more seamlessly. As they are, they stop the story narrative and get a bit "soap box"-y for several pages. It's obvious the author did a ton of research for this novel, and it felt that she forced her research into the story - sometimes a bit unnaturally. By the third time the author did this, I said to myself, "Oh, here we go again."
* There are a lot of topics explored and genres touched on in this novel. We've got: the supernatural via mediums (comes up early on and seems odd given the main character), Indigenous history, domestic abuse, intergenerational alcoholism, house restoration, and more. Many elements of this novel are historical, both nonfiction and fiction, and then you also have a generational/literary fiction saga, mystery, supernatural/ghost story, and women's/contemporary fiction. Some of this has a Kate Morton vibe, particularly the old house and long-ago mystery, which I really liked. I was a bit overwhelmed by all the different topics/genres as more and more got added.

I really liked this story, but I can easily see that it won't be a hit for every reader because so many topics/themes are included that it can come across as jumbled.

Other loyal J. Courtney Sullivan fans will likely love her latest, but too many POVs made for a complex story I just couldn't get into.

At its base, this is a story of generational alcoholism and women sprinkled in with a lot of feminism and historical Maine references. I knew little to nothing about Maine's history (being from the Midwest) but found the mix of fiction and history very satisfying. Jane was unlikeable in her avoidance of her problems, which to me is a sign of a well rounded character. It was hard to see so many people enable her throughout the book yet I didn't yearn for her comeuppance either. Sullivan depicts addiction very accurately. I also found the supernatural mixed in very fascinating and well written. It tied everything together nicely. All of the Indigenous peoples work being done to right the wrongs is inspiring as well and informative as it was all new information to me. Overall it's hard to put this book in one category, and I like it because of that!

"the fear of scarcity followed Jane into adulthood, into her marriage. It popped up at odd times, surprising her." J. Courtney Sullivan, The Cliffs

Through the coastal setting on Maine, main character Jane takes on both an external mystery and her own demons as she searches for clues to both history of the area and how her past has formed her present. She's returned to the area as a Harvard archivist after making a terrible mistake that threatens to shatter both her personal and professional life.

She learns of her own past as she uncovers that of sacred ground, native customs and seeks to heal her own nagging wounds. This story is rich in culture, place, family, spirits, love, loss, forgiveness and legacy. We learn of ourselves through those that came before us, in making way for those who will come after us.

The Cliffs By J. Courtney Sullivan
Pub date: July 2, 2024

Over the years, I have learned so much about Maine from author J. Courtney Sullivan. Her new novel does not disappoint…In The Cliffs, I was introduced to the indigenous peoples of Maine and the injustices that befell them as our country was discovered and grew.

I was also introduced to characters of depth and truth, including a Victorian mansion that was built overlooking The Cliffs, died and was abandoned, and then rose from its history of despair to be a new beacon of hope.

My favorite characters were Jane Flanagan and Clementine. Each character touches the lives of many in both positive and negative ways. Each woman grows throughout the story. Each is impacted by ghosts of the past. These ghosts appear throughout the novel. They share tales of love, extreme loss, shared longing, family secrets, and redemption.

Minor characters, such as Genevieve and Allison drive change in the flow of the story. Genevieve restores the Victorian house and her ignorant mistake while doing so brings Clementine further into the story. In the novel, Allison is the figure of balance and stability and in a sense, her guidance and strength saves Jane.

I love how all the characters, ghosts, and tales fit seamlessly together in unforeseen ways. As the reader, you keep turning the pages as each connection is unveiled. You must know more!

The ending was lovely and the unfolding of the story was a smart way to share the history of this area of Maine through the lives of those who found themselves there, whether planned or forced.

The shared understanding and celebration of what and who came before them all is a gift to the reader. The end is new beginning for the indigenous peoples and their story.

The story unfolds slowly and it is often times clouded by so many moving parts, but stick with it, you will be glad you did.

Enjoy! Four Stars

I was lucky to be given an advanced copy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review

The Cliffs is told primarily from Jane's point of view in modern times. Jane is back in Maine where she grew up after a disastrous event for her work derails her job and marriage. While coming to grips with the women in her family - her grandmother, mother and sister, she continues to deny how the alcoholism that has affected them has also played a major role in her own life. An opportunity to use her skills as a researcher puts her back in touch with a home that had personal meaning to her growing up. That house, and the cliff it stands on also played a major role in the lives of multiple women that came before Jane, and Sullivan delves into these stories periodically throughout the book, interspersed between chapters about Jane. These chapters are interesting, but in balancing the amount of time given to each of the women, it feels like there is missed opportunity for Jane to provide resolution to the one woman who is still alive, and it feels like a story from one of the two sisters that lived there in the first half of the twentieth century is missing - they're mentioned, but there's never a chapter told from either sister's perspective. The book is on the longer side, but it doesn't feel like it delves enough into the past stories. It does do a great job of portraying someone in Jane, who is in denial about just how much alcoholism can destroy a person's life, relationships and career. Another thing the book delves into is history, going into details about the Abenaki and other indigenous people that originally lived in the area, the Shakers (of furniture fame!) who were pacificists and believed in equality between genders, but other things as well that have caused the population to die out, and female artists in the sixties. In short, the book covers a gamut of topics and issues that are interesting and tie women of all different backgrounds to the same place across centuries and generations. A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks for this advance reader copy in exchange for a review.
Some readers will really love the delve into old houses, ghost stories, tales of indigenous people, and the touch of mystery,
but this book was just so incredibly slow that it was not the right book at the right time for me. I think, again for me, that it has too much going on to keep the reader laser focused on the long chapters - at a time when there is just so much going on in the world we want to escape from. This book is just, well, a lot. I liked it, but can't say I would recommend it to others.

The Cliffs is set amongst the amazing shores of rugged Maine. Jane Flanagan spent most of her childhood in Awadapquit, growing up with her sister and her mother in the home her grandmother had left them when she was a child. The home was really more suited to being a summer house, but it was theirs. Her mother's only job was reselling castoffs she picked up at yard sales between alcoholic binges, so it was home.
Jane had educated herself and worked her up to a job at Harvard , but that summer her marriage was falling apart and she found herself coming back to the house. Her mother has just died and she is dealing with the grief and confusion of that and figuring out her life.
Jane's best friend from her childhood is still there , as well as her sister and her nephew.
This is a good story of women, mothers, families, dealing with alcoholism and life.
Thanks to NetGalley, Knopf and the author for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I always look forward to Ms. Courtney's books. However, I do have mixed feelings about this one. The writing is wonderful and it's obviously well researched. Ultimately it's the story of women and the land they inhabited over the generations told from many points of view. I enjoyed the descriptions of sea captains, the Shakers and Spiritualism: the long section on the indigenous people, not so much. Overall, an interesting book of historical fiction and magical realism. Not my favorite but well worth reading.

When I read the description of this book I thought it was really going to be a suspenseful read - Old house in Maine - Ghosts, but unfortunately for me it was not. I felt the story went in too many directions and did not hold my interest. The background story, the history of the Native Americans who lived in Maine was interesting, but I was not prepared for so much history given the description of the book.
Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan is a thought-provoking novel about where we live and those that came before us (or that's what I thought I was reading). The story takes on many different viewpoints and cultural themes from the perspective of a Maine old historic house (built in the mid 1800's) and the land that it is built upon. On the land there is a small cemetery, which makes you feel like you are suddenly going to read a different type of novel. But not too fact because then alcoholism is introduced. And then indigenous people, colonial era, modern day, YIKES. The story follows the inhabitants and some of their trials and experiences. From ghostly encounters of modern day, and then reverting back to the days when the original builder a sea captain built the house, it's secrets slowly (SLOWLY) unraveled.
Please read the overview of the book as I don't want to spend time rehashing it anymore.
There are so many different topics in the book, and it skips around so much that it's hard to follow. As I was reading, I felt the book was one type, say drama, and then it goes off in another direction. Seems like it could use some more editing or rewriting to streamline what the story is actually about. The writing style is very good though.