Press — J. Courtney Sullivan

PRESS FOR THE CLIFFS

In ‘The Cliffs,’ a house is home to generations of mysteries - Boston Globe Book Review

“In J. Courtney Sullivan’s latest treasure of a novel, “The Cliffs,” the house is itself a major character, providing intrigue, shelter, and comfort, sharing its stories like a top-quality yarn-spinner.

…It contains a hopeful vision of cultural and social justice, and does so with plenty of humane and humorous insights, as characterized by two of my favorite quotes (among an easy zillion): “History could only ever be as meaningful as those alive were willing to make it,” and — a topnotch kicker if I ever saw one — “‘This is New England. There is rarely only one ghost.’”

A Summer Home in Maine with Centuries-Old Secrets — And a Ghost - New York Times Book Review

“Culminating in a few inspired plot turns that surprise the reader with well-grounded hope, “The Cliffs” is both a mystery and a portrayal of how houses, people and geographical locations are energetic records of what has come before. In the language of the Abenaki, Awadapquit means “where the beautiful cliffs meet the sea.” This skillful novel makes the case that knowing what came before offers us our best chance to truly understand our connections to one another, and what we owe to the land we inhabit.”

The 12 New Books You Should Read in July - Time Magazine

“A decade ago, best-selling author J. Courtney Sullivan became obsessed with a purple Victorian mansion she discovered while on vacation in Maine. Now, that unique home is at the center of her haunting new novel, The Cliffs. After losing her mother, getting laid off, and separating from her husband, archivist Jane Flanagan returns to her coastal Maine hometown to discover that the long-abandoned gothic house she was obsessed with as a teen has a new owner. Genevieve, a wealthy outsider, has given the once-dilapidated dwelling a misbegotten makeover that she believes has awakened something sinister. In this provocative ghost story that questions how we right our wrongs of the past, the two must team up to rid the mysterious 19th-century home of its spirits and overcome their own demons.”

The Best Books of 2024 (So Far) - Real Simple

“In The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan, teenage Jane finds solace from a tough family life in an abandoned Victorian home on the Maine coast, where she spends hours reading. Two decades later, the house is bought and renovated by Genevieve, a wealthy Bostonian. When ghostly events start to occur, she hires Jane, now a Harvard archivist back in town after a personal crisis, to investigate its history. Jane’s search unearths the stories of the people who’ve inhabited the property, making for a fascinating look at the idea of legacy.”

33 Novels Coming this Summer - New York Times

“Upon returning to her Maine hometown, Jane, an archivist, learns that the crumbling Victorian mansion she loved as a teenager is now a cookie-cutter McMansion owned by Genevieve, a wealthy summer resident from Boston. Believing the house to be haunted, Genevieve hires Jane to research the house’s history, revealing ghosts of a different kind.”

THE CLIFFS / J. Courtney Sullivan - Library Journal

Reviewed by Stacy Alesi, Jun 01, 2024

“This highly anticipated novel from Sullivan (Friends and Strangers) was worth the wait. Protagonist Jane is a Harvard archivist who, like her mother and sister, is addicted to alcohol. After getting blackout drunk at a work event, she finds her job, as well as her marriage, in jeopardy, making this the perfect time to escape from all her troubles. She heads up to Maine to settle her late mother’s estate, which is complicated by the fact that her mother was a hoarder. As a teenager, Jane found an old abandoned Victorian house up high on a cliff nearby, which became her refuge. As an adult, she is surprised to learn that a wealthy young family has bought the house and turned it into a typical beach McMansion. The owner, who fears that the house is haunted, possibly due to some unsavory work she had done, hires Jane to research the house’s history. That research is at the heart of this novel that spans generations and covers colonialism, Indigenous history, spiritualism, the Shakers, and so much more.

VERDICT A beautifully written, expansive novel, sure to please fans of Daniel Mason’s North Woods or the work of Kate Morton and Susanna Kearsley.”

The Cliffs starred review - Kirkus Reviews

The Haunting of J. Courtney Sullivan - Publisher’s Weekly