Release Date: October 5th 2021
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 432
Find it on: Goodreads. BookDepository. Waterstones.
Source: I bought a copy of this book in a secondhand bookshop
Rating: 5/5 stars

Synopsis

Upon the cliffs of a remote Scottish island, Lòn Haven, stands a lighthouse.

A lighthouse that has weathered more than storms.

Mysterious and terrible events have happened on this island. It started with a witch hunt. Now, centuries later, islanders are vanishing without explanation.

Coincidence? Or curse?

Liv Stay flees to the island with her three daughters, in search of a home. She doesn’t believe in witches, or dark omens, or hauntings. But within months, her daughter Luna will be the only one of them left.

Twenty years later, Luna is drawn back to the place her family vanished. As the last sister left, it’s up to her to find out the truth . . .

But what really happened at the lighthouse all those years ago?

Review

I was really excited to pick up The Lighthouse Witches after reading and loving The Nesting by C J Cooke. The Nesting is an addictive, eerie read and I was hoping for much the same with The Lighthouse Witches. What I got was one of the most unputdownable books I’ve ever read.

The story follows Liv, a single mum to three girls – Sapphire, Clover and Luna. Liv takes a job on the remote island of Lòn Haven, where she has been asked to paint a mural inside the old lighthouse. As the family get to know the island they soon learn about the history of witches on the island, and children going missing. Liv believes this to be nothing but superstitious nonsense until one night one of her daughters vanishes. Twenty years in the future, Liv’s youngest daughter Luna is drawn back to the place where her family was torn apart. This time she is determined to find out what happened to her sisters and her Mum.

The Lighthouse is an incredibly impressive book. It seamlessly weaves together a number of different storylines – we follow Liv in 1998 during their time on the island, Luna in the present-day as she attempts to discover the truth about what happened to her family and the grimoire of a witch living on the island hundreds of years ago. The story was utterly compelling and drew me in more and more as the story progressed. This is a dark and twisty tale and I was never sure what was going to happen next. The ending was something I never could have predicted and I thought it was delivered beautifully.

This is my second book from C J Cooke and I really enjoyed her writing style. This book is so easy to get lost in and there were a couple of really eerie moments that sent a shiver up my spine. The book is full to the brim with atmosphere and I loved every second of it. This is definitely a new favourite and I can’t wait to read more from C J Cooke.