The Cliffs: Reese's Book Club

A novel

By: J. Courtney Sullivan

Narrated by: Kimberly Farr, Tanis Parenteau, Emily Lawrence, Brittany Pressley, Cassandra Campbell

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.

Scratching My Head

I am a huge J Courtney Sullivan fan, I’ve read most of her work. This one left me wondering what happened. It felt fragmented and was really hard to piece together. I’m going to consider this a one off and hope for better things in her future writings.

Very slow burn

It was an ok read. Some parts were excellent and interesting. Others I found myself losing interest and skipping. Not a book I would highly recommend.

Generational Karma

That old saying the Sins of the fathers ..what one generation sows the next reaps or gets piled on. This book would be such a great book club read because you could easily get caught up on a ton of side tangents and propostions that the author brings to light. The book is coheasive and runs smoothly on its own time line but inserts bits from the past that have come calling in our modern era past v present the haves and the have nots or more acurately the privleged v those seen as less . Thought provoking read/listen.

Any issues that we are facIng today and reincarnation was explored.

i had to force myself to continue until got to chapter 4. I would recommend that listeners stick with it during the beginning, to get to the more interesting and enjoyable later on.

Historical Fiction?

Lengthy novel that delved into subjects that I was not interested in. I like the development of the main character but the story had a few too many side stories