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Though there were multiple timelines and character perspectives to follow, the narrative felt pretty smooth to me. The writing keeps you hooked. Y'all, The Lighthouse Witches gave me exactly what I was looking for. If you read the synopsis, and it sounds incredible to you, have no fear, that is what you are getting; you will not be let down. Olivia (Liv) is our first-person narrator for much of the book. Other chapters offer third-person POVs from Luna and Saffy. A second first-person account is historical. That one provides interceding chapters made up of passages from a book, left in the bothy, referred to as a grimoire. But it serves less as a source for studying the dark arts than it does as a memoir. Written by someone named Roberts, presumably an ancestor of Liv’s employer, it serves mostly as a fourth perspective, offering first-person exposition of historical events the book’s author lived through, events that inform the present.
C.J. Cooke: I find a lot of the ideas for new books come from the ones before. In this case, I had just finished The Nesting, which has a strong folklore element, and I’d also spent a lot of time in the Arctic researching it and thinking about ideas of wildness and rewilding, and about how we were impacting nature. This all spilled over into The Lighthouse Witches. A bunch of loose ends with characters also got tied up pretty sloppily and hastily, considering how much time we spent in the past getting to know everyone’s dynamic when a bunch of people disappeared. What was the point? Single mother of three, Liv is left her former life behind. She has been commissioned to do a mural in a 100-year-old lighthouse on a remote Scottish island. It's an island steeped in history -witches were killed here. Specifically in 1662, women were imprisoned, tortured, and burned at the stake. Their cures one the land left the island reeling and people afraid, superstitious and in a strange way looking out for each other. Luna is the main character from the contemporary storyline. She’s an adult now, and pregnant. The pregnancy is very much wanted but she’s torn over her relationship. We learn that she’s been in rehabilitation for many years after what happened on Lòn Haven. Like her mother, Liv, she’s tough, but she also needs to confront things. She was abandoned at the age of nine and has never worked out why. It haunts her. CBTB: I am soin love with the creepy, intriguing cover of your new book! Tell us about your thoughts on the cover. What do you love about this cover design?
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Atmospheric, gothic, spine-chilling… “Haunting… mysterious” – Entertainment Weekly “Jess-Cooke is one to watch” – Publisher’s Weekly “Intense, thrilling… this is grip-lit at its best” – ELLE magazine The move comes after The Picture Company and Studiocanal reupped their multi-year deal to make a number of films per year. Part of the deal sees the two companies move into TV – they are already working on a series adaptation of the Johnnie To action thriller Drug War, with Jett’s Sebastian Gutierrez attached.
From the first word, the story throws you into the fray of long ago women being accused of witchcraft, with no chance of them being judged anything but guilty. So be it, as the aggressors, and all that come after them, are cursed, the curses to be carried out by wildlings. There seems to be no escape from this curse as those cursed do the unthinkable. The sense of foreboding and danger is constant and it seems impossible that things can ever change for the better.
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My thanks to HarperCollins UK Audio for providing a gifted advance listening copy for review via NetGalley. The Lighthouse Witches is now available. stars from me to this engrossing story. (It might have been 3.75 had I read the book. The bonus is for the narrators.) Published in 2021 by Penguin Random House, the book follows young mother Liv and her three daughters who arrive on a mysterious Scottish island to run a decrepit lighthouse. Thank you, HarperCollins UK Audio and NetGalley, for the audio ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Norwegian fjords and folktales are beautifully evoked in this vivid and compelling novel.”—Rosamund Lupton, New York Times bestselling author of SisterLiv doesn't believe in fairy tales, but when two of her daughters disappear, she begins to question if the stories that her friend, Isla, told her might be true.
The Inside Flap Ep. 140 The Witching Hour Is Upon Us with C.J. Cooke - podcast = 1:30:00 – from about 30:00 The timelines and characters’ narrators jumping around and things got a bit confusing at times, and I had to wonder if that was to throw us off a bit to make things seem more convincing. The plot is fairly twisted and quite convoluted. There are some loopholes in the flow but nothing too major that will take away from your enjoyment. I enjoyed the constant surprises that the author kept throwing time and again. There are many creepy moments too. At the same time, some parts were very farfetched and there were too many coincidences towards the end. No doubt that this was a UNIQUE and WELL WRITTEN story exploring Scotland’s actual folklore of Wildlings, and the history of the Witch Trials in Scotland which took place in the 1600’s, and I can understand why it was loved by all of my Goodreads friends… A light house, missing children, a land cursed by witches and wildlings make for a riveting, gripping and oh so enjoyable book!The Lighthouse Witches tells an intense, spooky tale through the eyes of mama Liv in 1998, sister Luna in 2021, and the words of a grimoire from 1620. I thought the different perspectives brought such an exciting pace to the novels, allowing the reader to try to connect the dots as they go. I found it so easy to become attached to Liv and her girls - I still ache to give Saffy a hug. 🥲 Overall, I truly enjoyed going on this journey into another land filled with myths, folklore, and superstition. C.J. Cooke has now won me over as a fan, as this book topped the scales! CBTB: Last but certainly not least: as we look forward to the publication of THE LIGHTHOUSE WITCHES this fall, what are you most excited about?
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