The Lighthouse Witches- Book Review

The Lighthouse Witches by C.J. Cooke

Publication Date: 30th Sep 2021
Genre: Paranormal Mystery 

4 Stars 

Liv, a single mother, reaches a remote Scottish island with her three girls. She’s commissioned to paint a mural inside a lighthouse. Called The Longing, the lighthouse has a dark history that still haunts the islanders. 

Strange incidents disturb their lives, and things go for the worse when two of the girls are missing. Saffy, the 15 yo sulking teen, disappears, followed by the youngest daughter Clover. Only Luna is with her mother, but things are far from normal. 

Twenty-two years later, Luna is pregnant, living with her boyfriend. She has a vague memory of her past and has no idea what happened to her mother or two sisters. She is still searching for the sisters, and one day an unexpected call takes her to an injured Clover. 

Luna is shocked beyond belief when she sees Clover at the same age when she disappeared. How is it possible that the girl hasn't aged? Is the little girl really Clover? For Luna to know the truth, she has to go back to the same place where it began. Can Luna do it? Can she risk everything to uncover the past? 

The Lighthouse Witches is told in three timelines and from three POVs- Liv in 1998, Saffy (third person) in 1998, and Luna (third person) in 2021. We also have another POV in the form of a book (grimoire) with incidents from the past connected to the events in 1998 and 2021. 

Nowhere does the book get confusing or complicated despite such intricate narration. The story flows quite well from start to finish, though it drags a little in the second half. The witch hunt of Scotland was one of the biggest events where women were burned at stake. However, there is very little known about the incidents. 

The book highlights these atrocities while showing how fear and hysteria make people commit horrible crimes. The islanders suffer a similar fear they never bothered to investigate. We also see the vulnerability of a teen from a broken family and how it changes her life. 

The atmosphere is fantastic, especially in past timelines, and suits the paranormal mystery theme. 

Coming to the characters, I’m not sure what to say. Liv sure wasn’t supposed to be perfect, but she somehow didn’t make the kind of impact she should. I understand her position. Being an artist with no permanent job and three kids to manage is no joke. Bills don’t pay themselves. Still, her character seemed more like a catalyst that kept the story moving, and there was one major reveal that rather disappointed me (not revealing spoilers here). 

Saffy was explored very well and an angsty teen. Luna was more or less easy to understand. No matter her lack of memory and nightmares, her family came first. 

Where the book gained points was suspense. It was difficult to guess the reason for the events that were connected across the centuries. The reveal was phased for each character in a way to bring it all together at the end. I really liked how the author handled this. 

A few things remain unexplained, but that’s fine too. The major explanations stretched a little extra, and adding any more would have dampened the ending. 

The author's note is detailed and gave me a better closure than the story itself. 

To sum up, The Lighthouse Witches is an intriguing read with steady suspense and atmosphere if you ignore the minor bumps on the way. It’s a book worth reading. 

I received an ARC from NetGalley and HarperCollins UK.

#TheLighthouseWitches #NetGalley

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P.S: This cover is perfect for the book.