The Lighthouse Witches

Wow. What a book. What…A….Book! A combination of a remote Scottish island, a lighthouse and witches. I don't think it could get any better.

In 1998, Liv and her three daughters, Sapphire, Luna and Clover, travel to the island of Lòn Haven, off the coast of the Black Isle in Scotland. Liv is to paint a mural on the walls of The Longing, the island's lighthouse. In 2021, Luna returns to Lòn Haven, the place where her mother and two sisters vanished without trace twenty-three years earlier. Interspersed with these two narratives is the story of the witch hunts that took place on the island in the 1600s.

This book has an ethereal feel coupled with the realities of life as a single mother for Liv, giving it an all-important (to me) foot show more in reality. It also feels sinister and eerie and to my surprise, as not many books achieve this, I was rather unnerved by it, a feeling of unease creeping over me as the tension builds in all three of the timelines.

This book couldn't be rushed. I wanted to soak up every little detail. It's full of atmosphere in a closed and judgemental setting and Liv and her family are outsiders trying to fit in amongst the island's myths and folklore that spans centuries. I sensed her unease, especially when things that were starting to make sense to her were also completely unpalatable and unthinkable.

The Lighthouse Witches is gothic, unsettling and witchy, with multiple perspectives and timelines, and a family mystery at the heart of it. When the ending came it was clever and well thought out and it worked brilliantly. It had exactly what I love in a book: a story that gripped me hard from the outset and only let go when I turned the final page, a setting that had me in its thrall, and superb writing and plotting. I thought I would enjoy it but it completely exceeded all my expectations and I absolutely adored it. show less

In a Nutshell: An interesting gothic mystery with some outstanding twists.

Story:

This tale comes to us from distinct perspectives and multiple timelines.

1998: Single mother Liv has been commissioned to paint a mural in the lighthouse of a remote Scottish island. Liv takes it as a golden opportunity to make a fresh start with her three daughters. She soon discovers that the island harbours dark secrets. But who in this modern day can believe in those old ladies tales and superstitions? Not Liv, for sure. Until things take a dark turn.

2021: Luna has been searching for her missing sisters and mothers for more than two decades. When she receives a call that her youngest sister has finally been located, she is on cloud nine. But imagine her

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shock when she discovers that Clover is still seven years old, the age she was when she vanished twenty two years earlier. With Luna’s hazy memory about the past, will she be able to figure out this bizarre situation?

The other two perspectives are that of Sapphire (Liv’s eldest daughter) and a mysterious grimoire that contains a man’s narration of the witch hunts in Scotland during the 1660s.

This is one of those books where I can’t write anything much without going into spoilers. And as I hate spoilers with a vehemence, I’ll try to keep the feedback specific and brief.

• 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.

• The grimoire’s story was my favourite, though it was the most horrifying at times. The idiotic thinking behind the witch hunts were written very well.

• Many of the characters are quite intriguing, even though I couldn’t connect with the decisions of a few of them. To pinpoint one, Liv’s reason for wanting to escape London and go to an unknown island seemed utterly illogical to me. Then there is this big hullabaloo about some mysterious numbers. Tell me honestly: if you see the numerals “2 0 2 1” appear somewhere, will you think “Oh, what a mysterious number!?” or will you think “Why is the current year mentioned here?”

• Though there were multiple timelines and character perspectives to follow, the narrative felt pretty smooth to me. The writing keeps you hooked.

• A couple of reader friends found the plot dragging in the middle but I couldn’t detect any major dip in pace. Probably because I was listening to it than reading it.

For me, the biggest pro points of this book were its plot idea and its ability to spring surprises almost till the end. Where it could have worked a little better for me was in making the characters, especially Liv, seem more realistic. Luna was the best etched character, but even her arc contained some wild stretches at times.

I heard the audio version of this book and I think that made my experience much better. The four perspectives are voiced by four different narrators and this brings a nice individuality to their narratives. I loved all the narrators as they rendered the characters perfectly. The audiobook is 10 hrs 13 min long, and that’s 10 hrs 13 minutes of a captivating hearing experience. Of course, you’ve already seen that the plot is fairly complicated. If you find your mind boggled by too much of a to and fro in the timelines, better go for reading. But to experienced audiobook listeners, I’ll recommend the audiobook wholeheartedly.

4 stars from me to this engrossing story. (It might have been 3.75 had I read the book. The bonus is for the narrators.)

Thank you, HarperCollins UK Audio and NetGalley, for the audio ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

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Perfect read when you’re on an isolated island, like I am right now. There are so many islands up here in the San Juans in the PNW. I’m on a tiny island that is more challenging to get to because there is no ferry service. The storms have come in. I chartered a small boat and was dropped off on the beach last night amid rain. It’s quiet here and the wind howls.

The story and atmosphere of this book is perfect for populating your head with myths and stories as I go out today, exploring the low tide, the lonely beaches, driftwood forts, looking for caves.

Enjoy the story, there is a surprising twist that sheds light on the horrors of the past.

And lastly, I’ll be looking for caves but I won’t be jumping into the ocean.

“Memories, like stones, have their own gravity.”

This book was amazing. The characters were perfection. I mean each of them was so perfectly flawed and haunted. I loved that it started off with the dark gothic vibe from the start. I have to say I really enjoyed the past/present timeline in the story. It was honestly fascinating the way the author used it to reveal pieces of information. It was also really cool to get the overarching witch story that played out in segments throughout. I would have loved more of that narrative just because it was fascinating.
It's hard to determine a piece of the story I loved most. I think that overall it was beautifully written. You feel for each of the characters and you start to think you've figured show more something out... only for the reveals to prove that you didn't have a clue what you were talking about. It had some seriously dark moments when I was on the edge of my seat about how things would play out. I have to say this is one of those stories that kept me invested from start to finish. I honestly didn't see the end coming and the magic in the story is beautifully subtle. show less

When we think of witches most of us think of black cats, broomsticks, pointy hats and women in black robes. Even these folks are stereotyped to fit what we have been fed from the time we first donned a Halloween costume. The truth is...witchcraft is a religion and a craft that can be practiced by perfectly ordinary looking people of either sex. What Liv found was that when she took the commission to paint the mural in the old lighthouse was that under her feet was the dungeon prison where 100 years past. women had had been imprisoned for fitting the stereotype, be they guilty or innocent. 100 years ago, no one really cared one way or the other. In the timeframe that this story is set nothing much has changed. Mass hysteria again is show more rampant in the small village, as is the same belief that led to the majority of witch trials in history throughout the world. An unfortunate, natural tragedy that befell a group of people, without any understanding of why it happened. This same type of group is looking for a scapegoat, typically someone who doesn’t conform to society’s expectations at whatever time period. What’s unique about this book is how this group of women in the ‘present day’ storyline is characterized. They appear as though they may be type cast as the witches of their town. They meet secretly by candlelight. They actually whip up the unnecessary hysteria that’s typically used against witches. This story has a mix of fantasy and truth, paranormal and normal, everyday hysteria that can be stirred up by ignorance and misunderstanding. There are witches... both of the actual, magical variety and of the ordinary women prosecuted by insecure men on power trips variety. There is magic. There is folklore and mysterious creatures known as Wildlings. There are shady, untrustworthy characters with unclear motives. the lighthouse setting was creepy and gave the story the proper atmosphere. The history of the land that the lighthouse stands on is spooky enough to give the reader plenty of goosebumps and chills and it grows in importance as the story continues, but not in the ways in which you originally might believe. I think my favorite part of this book was the author’s ability to just keep me guessing, and the general atmosphere of unease she so cunningly delivers. Sometimes it's hard to remember that hundreds of years divide this storyline. Strange appearances, elements of folklore, superstition, and love that extends through generations come together to create a both classic and modern tale of witchcraft. show less

The Lighthouse Witches is a blend of several genres: Gothic, paranormal, and mystery. At the outset, author C. J. Cooke expertly sets the eerie, evocative scene: a decommissioned lighthouse called the Longing on the Scottish island of Lon Haven. It is "a white bolt locking earth, sky, and ocean together. . . . [L]ovely in its decrepitude, feathery paint gnawed off by north winds and rust-blazed window frames signatures of use and purpose." It stands one hundred and forty-nine feet tall and offers breathtaking views from the lantern room accessed by climbing one hundred and thirty-eight steps. In a first-person narrative, Liv describes arriving on Lon Haven in 1998 and seeing it for the first time with a sense of haunting familiarity, show more even though she has never been there before. She has come to the island with her children in tow looking for a fresh start, on the run from an unpleasant truth she is too frightened to face head-on. She is well aware of "how stupid" her thought process is, but is unable to disavow herself of the ludicrous notion that if she just ignores the problem it will go away. They are to live in the rustic lighthouse keeper's cottage while Liv paints a mural inside the lighthouse that has been commissioned by the owner, Patrick Roberts. He wants the mural to be "stunning and inspiring" and plans to turn the lighthouse into a writing studio.

Sapphire immediately finds a grimoire -- an old book of spells -- on the cottage's bookshelf. Cooke inserts excerpts of "The Grimoire of Patrick Roberts," which details the life of a local family who "lived our lives by magic" in 1662 and what ultimately happened to them. Liv and her children learn there were witch hunts not just in the United States, but also in Scotland and England. In fact, women believed to be witches were imprisoned in a dungeon underneath the lighthouse before being burned if they were found guilty of witchcraft. One of those witches cursed the island as she was dying, and a young child went missing there thirty years earlier. According to the boy's sister, another child was found a year later who looked just like him, but bearing a telltale mark on his neck. Was he a wildling, sent to kill every member of his family until their bloodline was destroyed?

Sapphire's first-person narrative expresses her dismay at being dragged from her school, friends, and boyfriend in New York to live in the "arse-end of nowhere." She misses her stepfather, Sean, who died in a car accident, and daydreams about her biological father materializing. Liv and Sapphire have an unsurprisingly fraught relationship -- at fifteen, the always headstrong girl has grown disrespectful and defiant. But Liv loves all her girls boundlessly and struggles to balance raising them as a single mother with accepting commissions for paintings and teaching art.

Yet another narrative is set in 2021 and focuses on Luna, who has only fragmented memories of the time she spent on Lon Haven. Her psychiatrist has explained that whatever happened to her all those years ago was so horrific that she dissociated, "effectively checking out of the horror," her memories deeply buried in her mind. Liv abandoned her when she was just nine years old. "No explanation. No apparent motivation. Just dumped her in the woods and vanished into thin air." Now she and her boyfriend, Ethan, are expecting their first child. She has vowed never to return to Lon Haven, but maintains Facebook pages devoted to her missing sisters, Sapphire and Clover, neither of whom have ever been accounted for since they went missing more than two decades ago.

But then Luna receives a life-changing call. Clover has been found! Since she was seven when she disappeared, she is twenty-nine years old now. But when Luna rushes to the hospital to meet the "wee girl" who has been found, she is disappointed. It's not Clover at all. It's a seven-year-old girl. But the girl bears an uncanny resemblance to Clover and asks why Sapphire is carrying the stuffed giraffe Clover adored. Sapphire kept it in the intervening years. The girl has knowledge of other matters, as well, that only Clover could possess.

Cooke weaves a tale of increasing angst in 1998. The creepy lighthouse has been vandalized with horrific symbols, but as Liv prepares to bring the mural to life, she makes other unsettling discoveries. She meets Patrick Roberts, the "island's mystery millionaire," who turns out to be much younger and more eccentric than anticipated. And disturbing details come to light about how he came to own the lighthouse.

Meanwhile, in 2021, Luna struggles with the prospect of marrying Ethan and takes custody of Clover, who insists that she just left the cottage on Lon Haven the night before she was found. She was discovered wandering on the side of the road, claiming that she'd gone looking for Luna. And she has an inexplicable mark on her hip.

Cooke deftly alternates the narratives into a cohesive tale of witchcraft, curses, time travel, and legends that mystify and frighten her characters and mesmerize readers. Liv is an empathetic character -- a single mother doing her best to care for her children and earn a living after experiencing trauma. She is frightened and in denial about what the future might hold for her and her daughters. Sapphire is a typically inquisitive, willful teenager trying to assert her independence, while Luna is a young woman who survived early traumatization but has found a man who loves her and is attempting to lead as normal a life as possible when it is upended by the reappearance of Clover. But it can't really be Clover. So Luna has to return to Lon Haven to face her own demons and determine who Clover really is.

As the narratives meld cohesively, Cooke gradually reveals the details of her uniquely inventive plot as she gradually accelerates the story's pace and ramps up the dramatic tension. She assembles a world in which wildlings (also known as fae or fairies), witches, and magic exist, and reveals the true motives of Patrick Roberts. She also explains precisely what happened to Liv and Sapphire, as well as Clover's true identity, and provides a conclusion that is surprisingly emotional yet fitting and, ultimately, uplifting and hopeful. In the process, she relates a tale that is engrossing and entertaining. With her richly descriptive prose and thoughtful examination of parent-child relationships, lost love, and the power of fear, she might make believers even of readers for whom the genre is outside their comfort zone.

Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book. show less

Every time I read a book by C.J. Cooke I never want it to end. She writes beautifully and her books are among the most atmospheric novels I have ever read. Just brilliant.
Liv and her three daughters arrive at a small island off the coast of Scotland in the middle of the night. Trying to escape real life, Liv agrees to paint the inside of a lighthouse on Lòn Haven, even though she knows the place holds a dark past as being one of the places where witches were mercilessly killed in the past.
Soon enough, things are not what they seem, and when every single one of them disappears, leaving only behind her middle daughter Luna, we start to realise there is more to the Longing than meets the eye.
Absolutely clever, dark and mysterious all the show more way through. Every page was delicious to read and I felt myself transported right there in that island from page one.
Can’t wait for her next novel. Absolute fan over here. show less