The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan

 

Summary (from the publisher): A novel of family, secrets, ghosts, and homecoming set on the seaside cliffs of Maine, by the best-selling author of Friends and Strangers.

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.

Review: As a teenager growing up in the house of a single mom who is an alcoholic, Jane Flanagan looks to an abandoned Victorian home overlooking the ocean in Maine as a peaceful retreat from her often turbulent life. Twenty years later, Jane is a Harvard archivist and returns home to Maine after a terrible mistake that is threatening both her career and marriage. She is horrified to see that the new owner of the house, Genevieve, has gutted it and the house is totally unrecognizable. Genevive is convinced the house is haunted and hires Jane to research its history. 

I had really mixed feelings on this book and feel like it might be easier to do a pro/con list for this one. 

What I liked and what worked for me: 

• I loved the Maine setting and the historic house. The house, sitting empty and abandoned with all its belongings intact, on a secluded bluff on the Maine coast instantly reeled me in. I loved learning more about its history as the book went on and liked how the house sort of serves as the grounding anchor in the book rather than any of the characters. 
• Along the same lines, I loved the eerie quality to the house!! When the marbles start rolling out from seemingly nowhere??? I was dialed in!
• Jane's complicated family and relationship with alcohol. I really loved how complicated Jane is a character and thought her issues with addiction were handled well and realistically. 
• Jane's best friend. This relationship is the most enduring in the novel and I loved the nuanced depiction of female friendship. 

What didn't work as well for me: 

• I loved getting some history of the house, but this book ultimately meandered too far off course for me. There is even a section at the end that goes back in time to the perspective of a native that lived on the land where the house once stood. It just rambled all over the place and sort of lost the main thread for me.
• Along the same lines as above, this was too long. I don't think it needed to be over 15 hours on audio and could have used some firmer editing.  
• Jane's husband. He seemed great but I never felt like he and Jane had much of a connection nor did I have the best sense of who he was. She seemed totally fine on her own and not like someone who has a marriage on the rocks.
• I wasn't sure what to make of all the psychic medium content. I'm not sure it added much to the story for me or was truly necessary. 
• There just seemed like a lot thrown in here that wasn't ever really dealt with other than to add interest or color to the story - like the supposed ghost sightings and then we got the backstory on who it probably is but for what exactly? 
• The ending surprised me in the sense that I just didn't think it fit the character or tied everything up in a satisfactory way for me. 

Stars: 3.5