The Cliffs: Reese's Book Club
A novel
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3.8 • 616 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK • A novel of family, secrets, ghosts, and homecoming set on the seaside cliffs of Maine, by the New York Times best-selling author of Friends and Strangers
“A stunning achievement, and J. Courtney Sullivan’s best book yet. Sullivan weaves a narrative that’s fascinating and thought-provoking. I literally could not put this book down.”
—Ann Napolitano, New York Times best-selling author of Hello Beautiful
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.
Enthralling, richly imagined, filled with psychic mediums and charlatans, spirits and past lives, mothers, marriage, and the legacy of alcoholism, this is a deeply moving novel about the land we inhabit, the women who came before us, and the ways in which none of us will ever truly leave this earth.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Past speaks to present in this gripping historical novel set around a Maine beach town property. While renovating her new summer home, wealthy matron Genevieve illegally digs up a small graveyard to put in an infinity pool. Convinced that the angry former residents are now haunting the house, she calls in an archivist named Jane to research the house’s history, which dates back to the 19th century. Jane, a troubled alcoholic, specializes in making unknown women’s voices heard but isn’t so good at listening to herself. As she digs into the stories of the dead women—a gifted painter, a former Shaker turned maid, and others—she learns more about herself and her own connection to the property. Author J. Courtney Sullivan explores complex issues like colonialism, the legacy of the Civil War, and 20th-century gender roles. In the process, The Cliffs becomes an intimate patchwork quilt of love, loss, and finding joy in unexpected places.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestseller Sullivan (Friends and Strangers) toys with gothic and supernatural elements in her propulsive latest. After a drunken faux pas lands Harvard archivist Jane Flanagan in trouble at work and on the rocks with her husband, she moves back into her recently deceased mother's house in coastal Maine. Grief and shame weigh heavily on her, so when Genevieve, the new owner of a neighboring cliffside mansion, offers Jane a research project, she jumps at the chance for a distraction. Genevieve has overheard her young son talking to someone in an upstairs bedroom who might be a ghost, and she asks Jane to investigate the house's history, terrified that her renovations—including digging up graves to make room for a swimming pool—have disturbed the spirits of those buried on the property. The stories Jane discovers reach back through the Victorian era to encounters between Indigenous people and colonists, and include a rewarding twist that sheds light on long-held mysteries from Jane's childhood. Sullivan leans on many pages of exposition and a few too many coincidences to fit the pieces of the puzzle together, but, for the most part, the plot motors along like a well-oiled machine. This satisfies.
Customer Reviews
See Allfabulous at times and also confusing at times
There were times when I could not put this book down, and other times when I just wanted it to be over. I found myself reading it at 3 AM, so it was definitely captivating; however, there were also times when I wondered if I had somehow accidentally found myself into a different book.
“Ridiculous “
Just too much….too much of an unnecessary history lesson, too much criticism of everything non woke, and Jane is not a likable character. She’s judgey, and arrogant. The introduction of so many characters paired with lengthy history ideology does not make for an enjoyable novel.
Reflection of History
I enjoyed the import aspects of Native American history and teaching about the Shakers. The book was a little to woke for my tastes; which I could not relate to a lot of the main characters mind set. Most importantly the aspects with her battles of alcoholism were spot on. A fair book but just not my usual style of book reading.