In my opinion, the best books are the ones that look beneath what’s known and search for meaning and truth. Yes, The Lighthouse Witches by C.J. Cooke is about the legends around the Scottish witches, but it’s also about legacy and understanding the root of our fears, all seen through the eyes of a family who move to a Scottish island when the mom, Liv, is commissioned to paint a mural in a lighthouse.
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This book review is part of my new book recommendation series, Liz Reads A Lot. I keep my reviews/recommendations short because I know you’d much rather be reading books than my opinions. All my reviews are spoiler free, I promise, no matter how hard it is to keep those twists and turns to myself!
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The book is haunting on so many levels, and not just because of the creepy moments and ghost-like figures in the lighthouse.
Alternating between the past and present day, Cooke tells a story about the importance of hunting for the truth. How do we know what’s really real? How do we face the things that scare us? Especially if those scary things are our memories?
Early in the book, one of Liv’s daughters thinks, “The story of her past is not like other people’s, she thinks. Most people’s pasts can be viewed like cleaved water left in the wake of a boat. Hers? It’s a tangled weave of spiderwebs and nightmares, never to make sense.”
But she has it wrong. Everyone has a tangled web of memories, including the collective memory of the Scottish island where the story takes place.
If you enjoy spooky but thoughtful reads a la Shirley Jackson, then you’ll love The Lighthouse Witches too.
Some of my favorite quotes from The Lighthouse Witches
“He doesn’t get that truth and memory can be too complex, too tentacled, to boil down to a linear narrative. That sometimes, silence is a form of survival.”
“Memories, like stones, have their own gravity.”
“We form stories about our lives to create meaning out of them–without meaning, they feel shapeless and without purpose.”
“The pieces are odd and misshaped because truth is messy and porous.”
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Get The Lighthouse Witches on Bookshop or Amazon.
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