This book was fantastic! It's not my usual choice but I was hooked immediately. I loved the story of multiple generations and different types of people that all centered around a house and geographical location. The story of Jane made you feel so many emotions, with laughter and thought-provoking circumstances throughout. Not only that, but it was historically so interesting!

This book had a lot going on in it.  It was a story about Jane and her family's history of alcoholism and how it affected everyone,  It was sad how it had affected Jane and her sister, Holly. 
 It was also a story about a purple house on the cliffs and the history of the families that had lived there.  That led to the Shakers and to indigenous tribes that had lived in Maine and what had happened to their people.
It was an interesting story but I felt there was too much going on at times in the book which overpowered the story.  I really wanted to give this book a 3 1/2 star rating but that was not an option. I received an advance copy of this book and I willingly chose to write an honest review.

We’ve heard “if walls could talk” but what about “if the land could talk?”

Our main character is Jane and her personal life is in disarray. Her marriage is in trouble, she’s grieving the death of her mother, her relationship with her sister is strained, and she relies on alcohol to navigate daily life. When she desperately moves back to her childhood home to clean out her mother’s house, Jane connects with an old friend about strange things happening at a local house… the house Jane used to frequent as a trespassing teen… the house on The Cliffs. This book looks at the history of this house and the history of the land on which it was built.

This book was a big undertaking! Sullivan’s love for Maine shines through and she has a clear goal of elevating stories of indigenous people and the erasure that has occurred over generations.

It might be too meandering or preachy for some, but Sullivan is one my of favorite authors and I appreciated her storytelling and willingness to step outside of her typical style for a purpose that felt very important to her. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an early review copy.

This book was a little uneven — at some points, I was riveted and couldn’t put it down. (I particularly liked stories of Jane’s childhood and struggles with addiction.) And I applaud the author’s desire to tell stories not often given air time, like Eliza’s and the Abenaki people’s. But those sections were so long and not integrated into the plot of the book as to feel like a boring (and somewhat scoldy) history lecture (from a white woman). It broke up the flow of the book and did a disservice to the important content.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you to netgalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review. There are a lot of characters in this book, several time periods and many moving pieces. I found it difficult to follow at times. Three stars.

The Cliffs is the newest novel written by J. Courtney Sullivan. This one is set in Maine on the grounds of an old property with quite a history. Jane has loved this house since she stumbled upon it as a teenager. Now, after a 20-year absence, she is back in town and can't believe the transformation the house has gone under due to the vision of its current owner. Jane begins digging into the history of the house and what she uncovers has ramifications for all involved who have loved this dwelling. Read and enjoy!

i LOVED the cliffs! the historical elements, the architecture, the characters - what a doozy! while this did take some time for me to get into, im glad i powered through!

THE CLIFFS by J. Courtney Sullivan

A story of a house, over centuries and decades, and the stories lived there. It is a story of women, history, generational trauma, place, and secrets. It’s a highly ambitious novel, covering a lot of different storylines, but it’s tethered by the house on a cliff overlooking the sea, which serves as a vessel for many women’s lives and their most heartbreaking moments. Swipe for synopsis!

My experience reading this book was complicated, but I think it might be one of my favorite books of the year. It started a bit slow, but I found myself thinking about it and wanting to get home to keep reading. Then I hit the 30-40% mark and couldn’t put it down. How Sullivan weaves together the various characters is so interesting. The tiniest little threads are ultimately pulled together in surprising ways.

Sullivan’s writing is beautiful and she has a keen understanding of relationships of all types. What starts as what seems a lively ghost story veers into an in-depth exploration of increasingly damaging choices, repatriation of bodies to lands and peoples, grief, marriage, Indigenous history, and substance abuse issues. It should feel overwhelming, but Sullivan’s deft execution of the story and her development of the characters are anchoring.

Overall, I think this may be hit or miss for people but it was a home run for me.

3.5⭐

A long book that meanders along. A house on a cliff ties different women together. Jane is an Archivist that has been asked to go on personal leave due to an incident. During this time she goes back to her hometown. Her mother has just died and she needs to get the house ready to sell. While there, she meets Genevieve, who bought the house on the cliff. Genevieve asks her to do the history of the house for her.

Woman literature with mystery, historical fiction and drama is what you will find when you read 'The Cliffs'. I enjoyed the story, though it is a long book. My problem with it was it kind of meanders around from one thing to the next. All the main women in the book have been involved somehow with the house. I feel the house is the main character more than Jane was, but that's just my opinion.

Tentative publishing date July 2, 2024

Thanks to Netgalley, Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor Publishers, and J. Courtney Sullivan for the E-ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

#netgalley #knopf #kbopfpatheonvintageanchor #jcourtneysullivan #thecliffs #arc #readmytbr #readaway2024

An ambitious book about generations of women, and generational trauma. I liked the main story; however, I thought Sullivan tried to tackle too many issues. Still, I flew through it.

Thank you to the publisher for an early release copy of The Cliffs. I really enjoyed this book - the characters were interesting and the story was well plotted. There were multiple story lines and timelines and Sullivan did a good job of keeping them straight. It is a story where not everything is as it seems and not everything gets tied up in a bow at the end which I can appreciate. I recommend this highly.

Such an interesting book. Learned a great deal about the early Shakers, their beliefs and how they lived. Also, learned about the indigenous native Americans who lived in what would become Maine/New Hampshire. The modern day people were fully developed and I cared about them. This was the first time I read a book by this author and was surprised and gratified by how much I liked it. A good choice.

Review of The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan 07-13-24

The Cliffs by J. Courtney is a beautifully written tale of family, alcoholism, indigenous people/reparation, ghosts and the old house on the Cliffs. Jane loses her prestigious archivist career at Harvard, her mother and her husband. This is a historical ghost story with present day humans trying to survive life on the stunning coast of Maine. Newcomer to the area, Geneveive buys the old house on the cliff which brings painful and important memories to Jane as she tries to rebuild her life. With multiple timelines, Sullivan brings to life the history of those who first lived and died on the Cliffs and the home and the families who built and transformed it.
Thanks so much to NetGalley and Knopf for the eARC and the opportunity to read and review The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan.
#NetGalley, #Knopf, #JCourtneySullivan, #HistoricalFiction, #Gothic, #Indigenous Repatriation, #Family, #Alcoholism, #Mystery
5 Stars- Pub.Date: 07-02-24

New from J. Courtney Sullivan is The Cliffs, a story centering on a family in Maine. This is not suspenseful or a thriller but more of a drama with a lot of history. The author is a great writer. I enjoy her work immensely. Fans of J. Courtney will not be disappointed.

The setting of Maine, chef’s kiss! A beautiful place.

On a secluded bluff overlooking the ocean sits a Victorian house, lavender with gingerbread trim, a home that contains a century’s worth of secrets. By the time Jane Flanagan discovers the house as a teenager, it has long been abandoned. The place is an irresistible mystery to Jane. There are still clothes in the closets, marbles rolling across the floors, and dishes in the cupboards, even though no one has set foot there in decades. The house becomes a hideaway for Jane, a place to escape her volatile mother.

Twenty years later, now a Harvard archivist, she returns home to Maine following a terrible mistake that threatens both her career and her marriage. Jane is horrified to find the Victorian is now barely recognizable. The new owner, Genevieve, a summer person from Beacon Hill, has gutted it, transforming the house into a glossy white monstrosity straight out of a shelter magazine. Strangely, Genevieve is convinced that the house is haunted — perhaps the product of something troubling Genevieve herself has done. She hires Jane to research the history of the place and the women who lived there. The story Jane uncovers — of lovers lost at sea, romantic longing, shattering loss, artistic awakening, historical artifacts stolen and sold, and the long shadow of colonialism — is even older than Maine itself.

The Cliffs, the latest from author J. Courtney Sullivan, takes place in a small town in Maine with a lot of history. The novel centers around Jane, a smart but troubled woman with an alcoholic mother. The novel also centers around a house on the cliffs and in time, we learn of its connection to Jane.

I really enjoyed how the novel leapt back in time, twice, and told the aspects of those periods in a single part, not moving back and forth with each chapter, as so many novels do. It was a different approach that worked well. For me, it highlighted how there are so many lost stories of those who came before us. Or if not lost, then not always accurate. I look forward to reading more of Sullivan’s novels.

Thanks to the author, NetGalley and Knopf for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

Certain house evoke emotions and connections that can be unexplainable. Jane feels this way about an old Victorian house that had been abandoned as if its occupants simply disappeared. Unfortunately, Jane is mortified when she learns the house has been bought and completely renovated to the point of being unrecognizable. The new owner seek out Jane to research the house when mysterious happenings occur. The search not only leads Jane diving into the house’s history and its prior inhabitants, it also leads her searching within herself and her family. This story of a house and its history asks me, does a house retain the life of its previous inhabitants, or is a house just a house. Personally, I hope it’s the former.

I enjoyed many aspects of this story which centers around an old Victorian house sitting high above the ocean in Maine. It was a refuge for the main protagonist Jane during her turbulent childhood living with an alcoholic mother. Jane, now working as an archivist at Harvard, has returned to her hometown to regroup after an embarrassing episode at an office party.

The characters who are connected to the house throughout the centuries are all entwined and I especially enjoyed Eliza’s story, who served as a maid in the house at one time. However I felt that much of the book read like a college lecture. While this book wasn’t for me, readers who are interested in historical fiction and especially the brutal treatment of Native Americans will appreciate this story.

The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan completely enraptured me! This story has it all, a beautiful house on the cliffs of Maine overlooking the ocean, ghosts, mediums, the history of the Indigenous people of that area (in the book it is Awadapquit), and so many indelibly descriptive characters, so much so that I feel like I know them. This is a totally engulfing book. Beautifully written and easy to read, it moved me so much. I loved reading about the Shakers and all the local history and history that is important to this country. " Epigenetics - the newish field of study that states the effects of mass trauma - slavery, genocide, colonialism - passes down from one generation to the next at the cellular level" features strongly in this book.
Thank you to Ms. Sullivan for the reeducation of the true American history in the Northeastern part of the country.

I’m a big fan of J Courtney Sullivan and I really liked this book. Her characters are always really interesting and she has a great way of giving the story a sense of place. I love that an old house play a huge roll on in the story and loved the history aspect of it.

Shortly after her mother's death Harvard archivist Jane Flanagan spectacularly blows up her life during a drunken episode at a work event. Jane returns to her small, coastal hometown of Awadapquit, Maine ostensibly to ready her mother's cluttered home for sale, but also riding out a suspension from her job and her marriage and struggling with spiraling alcoholism. While there she becomes embroiled in untangling a mystery involving a local historic Victorian mansion which has always fascinated her.

The Cliffs is an intriguing blend of family saga and well-researched historical fiction with gothic elements that crosses centuries, generations, and astral planes. Yes, this story has a hint of ghosts about it, but it's not a ghost story, an important distinction, I think. Even as a fan of J.Courtney Sullivan's previous novels I was surprised by just how much I enjoyed this one. I loved the summery coastal Maine setting and following a place across time, hearing familiar echoes across generations of women. The Cliffs is about history, heritage, and cycles, it's about honoring and healing, resilience and hope, and the importance of understanding where we've come from in order to progress.