What a great book! Loved the visual of The Cliffs and the Maine connection. Loved the historical aspects and will be recommending quite a bit. Patrons will eat this one up!

I really wanted to love this one, since I loved J. Courtney Sullivan's previous book, but it just wasn't clicking for me. I loved the atmosphere and vibes of this one and think she is an incredibly beautiful writer. However, the plot felt a bit slow and meandering.

This book really snuck up on me! After a slow start and lukewarm feelings towards it and the characters, all of a sudden I was totally wrapped up in the decades-spanning stories of multiple women and their connection to one house on a cliff in Maine. I learned a lot about Maine, the indigenous people who were there long before we were, and a little bit about a lot of tiny little topics all over the place. This book was painful to read at times while also being funny, touching, descriptive, and kind of irreverent. Not a thriller, but definitely has some mystery and surprises along the way. An ending you’ll appreciate. And enough ghosts to give you the chills but not enough so that you can’t fall asleep at night. I was so impressed at all the little plot lines that were intricately wrapped up into the numerous stories that came and went throughout the book. Definitely pick up if you’re in the mood for an atmospheric story with substance! Perfect for sinking into the late summer moodiness of August.

A lot of characters, a lot of side plots, new people being introduced really late in the book, it just felt a bit disorganized. I did enjoy it, and ultimately by the end of the novel, things came together pretty nicely, but there were multiple points while reading it that I wanted to give up, as I just couldn't pull all the threads together as I was reading.

This one took me way too long to get through. I just found that I wasn’t invested in the characters or the story. Maybe I picked this book up at the wrong time.

I really just needed Sullivan to focus on something! Instead, she introduced a lot of characters - all with their own point of view - and a mystery...but just never really fleshed out any of the characters or storylines. Sullivan ultimately felt all over the place and I quickly got bogged down. It felt like I had to give a lot of effort to even want to pick this one up.

I really liked the beginning of this book, a Victorian House that holds secrets and the woman who finds solace there. But the house is bought and renovated taking away all the charm. When Jane returns, she meets the new owner, who has a son who sees the house's ghosts. Here is where the book takes a turn and becomes more of a history lesson than a novel. While it was interesting at times, at others, it was meandering and preachy, drawing us away from the charm of the initial story. Jane was not likable, but I liked her interaction with the paranormal.

The Cliffs tells the stories of several families over many years who all have a connection to a small town in Maine. In current day, Jane is an alcoholic returning home to clear out her deceased mother’s home. While there, she explores the history of the town, a special house, and her own family. This would be a great read for someone who enjoys historical fiction.

THE CLIFFS by J. Courtney Sullivan is a family drama tied to generational traumas, motherhood, and the ghosts we leave behind. Out on July 2nd, this @reesesbookclub pick was generously made available to me by @aaknopf through @netgalley and #partner @prhaudio.

I don't read a synopsis usually before reading and I sort of wish I had with this one. I was expecting an atmospheric suspense with a creepy house and in that setting of, once again, Maine! It took me a while to figure out that this was a more layered family drama that covered Indigenous culture, the beauty and value of place, generational struggles, and the strength of women. Once I reset myself, I found it to be a good story that I enjoyed.

For fans of historical family drama, I would certainly recommend this story. I think it would also be a great book choice for discussions.

3.5 Stars

The Cliffs tells the history of a house set high on a rocky point overlooking the ocean in Maine. Jane is a researcher who has had a fascination with the house and its location for years. She is hired by a wealthy woman from Boston who purchased the house and thinks it may have ghosts from the past. The story goes back in time to uncover the history, the mysteries, and the past owners who have been connected to the house over the years. Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for an advanced copy. The Cliffs is available now.

The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan contains both historical and contemporary story lines centered on a purple house on a cliff in Maine. The primary topic is the rights of Indigenous peoples and preservation of graves and artifacts. Other topics include difficult subjects that touch the lives of the contemporary women in the story: alcoholism, marriage, motherhood, and wealth. An especially interesting story line involves Spiritualism. The Cliffs is highly recommended for discussion groups.

As a long time fan of J. Courtney Sullivan, the arrival of a new novel is always a cause for celebration. The Cliffs is a big, sprawling novel touching on complex contemporary themes such as addiction and cultural appropriation, and important historical themes relating to spiritualism, the treatment of Native Americans, and religion. I dove into the book happily and enjoyed the story of the primary character of of Jane thoroughly. I was less keen reading the other perspectives, and although fascinating and narratively important, they served to take me out of the main story. The book as a whole is smart, compelling, and a worthy addition to Sullivan's novels. Highly recommend. Thank you to Knopf and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this one early!

I didn’t know much about this book before I hit ‘PLAY’ and was treated to a somewhat-wandering-ultimately satisfying family drama with secrets, & suspense set in Maine. There is alot going on and it covers a lot of ground, so I needed to really pay attention. The underlying themes of legacy, generational trauma and Indigenous histories were eye-opening. The writing was engrossing, the interwoven stories enticing and the scenery vivid.

I am heading to New England this week and am tempted to make a detour to Maine.

AUDIO: The narration was top notch!

I thought I would enjoy this book as it sounded good. It turned out, to me, to be less of a story and more of a history lesson on the indigenous of Maine. The characters were not inviting, rather tedious and boring without solid personalities. They felt secondary to the history information.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

i love J. Courtney Sullivan’s writing style and complicated family sagas (my favorite is still Maine). This book has such an interesting premise - tracing the history of the inhabitants of house on the edge of a cliff in southern Maine - and then diving even further into the indigenous people who lived there before. I didn’t love the main character - I wanted to, but I just couldn’t move past the feeling of pity mostly. The book tackles probably too many heavier, deeper topics (alcoholism, indigenous people/repatriation, the Shaker community, gender inequality, et al) and gets a little bogged down in descriptions and the number of characters and storylines. I enjoyed the book, but it took me a little while to get through it.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC - I recommend it!

It started off strong but about one third of the way through I was struggling to keep going. It became so boring that I had to keep putting down. I finally fished.

I wanted to like this book more than I did. The description had me hooked - I love thinking about old houses and the people that lived there. I had a college project that had us do that and I followed the history & people of the house from 1694 to after the Civil War. But this book wasn't what I expected - I liked the way it looked at the land we live on, those who came before us, and our legacy but this book was too long and very disjointed.

Thanks to Knopf for my advanced copy.

With her troubled home life, Jane discovers an abandoned lavender house looking out onto the cliffs of Maine and escapes to it often for reading and general respite from her volatile mother. 20 years later Jane returns to Maine after her marriage has failed and finds that the long abandoned house has been bought, gutted and remodeled to the point where the house’s character has been completely removed. However the new owner can’t shake the feeling that the house may be haunted, possible because of something she did while gutting the house of its spirit (figuratively and literally). She asks Jane to uncover its history which leads to discoveries of the history of the land, house and themselves.

I have been reading @JCourtSullivan ‘s work for years and so I was very excited when I saw that she had a new one.. This book was such a wonderful story, I always enjoy a ghost (and growing up in an old Victorian myself, this one totally spoke to me) and I found that aspect of the story had me turning the pages. However, the emotional part of the novel, Jane’s story, her relationship with her lifelong best friend (have one of those) and her struggle with alcohol was really the essence of the book is what I will keep with me as I think back on the novel. This multi-dimensional story was exactly what I was looking for when I picked it up and was just such an enjoyable and emotional read. I cannot wait to see what Sullivan writes next!

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for the ARC

4.25 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I immediately wanted to read this book when I saw it was about a Victorian haunted house. I was so here for it and I really enjoyed the story. It had many layers and pieces and I was curious how everything was going to end. It’s told through multiple perspectives, but the main one is from Jane, who is going through a rough patch with her husband, so she comes to her mother’s house, who had recently passed away. There she learns that a woman bought a renovated an old Victorian house that Jane loved as a child. But now the house seems to be haunted and Jane is sucked into figuring out what happened at the house to cause a haunting. To me, this books is like a haunted beach read. Enjoyed it and will check out the author’s other books.

The Cliffs was a mixed bag for me.

I loved:
The coastal Maine setting was rendered with beautiful detail. I loved the strong sense of place.
Each main character battles internal demons, and each person's struggle and progress are well written.

I didn't love:
The expository tone of the historical digressions (into local indigenous cultures and The Shakers). I enjoyed learning about these cultures, but the writing felt lectury.
There are several points of view, and I struggled with how the story moves between them. By the time I finished the book, I wasn't sure what the primary story even was.

Trigger warning: There is a lot of alcoholism in this book - several characters and lots of life-altering consequences.

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me an electronic ARC in exchange for a review.