The Lighthouse Witches

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Our first story centres around Mabel, a young girl who finds herself pregnant in the late 1950’s and is sent to Lichen Hall, a home for unwed pregnant women. The plan is for her to give birth to her child and then give it up for adoption before returning home. When she arrives there she meets Morwen and the two soon develop a loving friendship. C.J. Cooke: I find a lot of the ideas for new books come from the ones before. In this case, I had just finished The Nesting, which has a strong folklore element, and I’d also spent a lot of time in the Arctic researching it and thinking about ideas of wildness and rewilding, and about how we were impacting nature. This all spilled over into The Lighthouse Witches.

Two sisters go missing on a remote Scottish island. Twenty years later, one is found - but she's still the same age as when she disappeared. The secrets of witches have reached across the centuries in this chilling Gothic thriller from the author of the acclaimed The Nesting . When single mother Liv is commissioned to paint a mural in a 100-year-old lighthouse on a remote Scottish island, it's an opportunity to start over with her three daughters--Luna, Sapphire, and Clover. When two of her daughters go missing, she's frantic. She learns that the cave beneath the lighthouse was once a prison for women accused of witchcraft. The locals warn her about wildlings, supernatural beings who mimic human children, created by witches for revenge. Liv is told wildlings are dangerous and must be killed. Y'all, The Lighthouse Witches gave me exactly what I was looking for. If you read the synopsis, and it sounds incredible to you, have no fear, that is what you are getting; you will not be let down. CBTB: I am soin love with the creepy, intriguing cover of your new book! Tell us about your thoughts on the cover. What do you love about this cover design?Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own. Me: It nearly is. My only slight hesitation is that a major part of the storyline comes a bit too close to the Netflix series “Dark.” Maybe it’s true what they say that there aren’t any wholly original ideas anymore. But no matter. Buy the book for your shelves (the UK cover is gorgeous!) or listen to the fantastic multi-narrator 10-hour audiobook. Either way, you’ll love it. C.J. Cooke’s The Lighthouse Witches, released by Penguin Random House last year, is next becoming a TV series from Studiocanal and The Picture Company, Deadline reports. Me: Ah well then I have just the thing! May I suggest The Lighthouse Witches? C.J. Cooke has concocted a spellbinding novel that bubbles over with gothic atmosphere, thriller vibes and the perfect amount of supernatural elements. This chilling tale weaves a web of superstition and truth that fans of Gothic horror won’t want to miss."— Library Journal

The Picture Company co-founders Andrew RonaandAlex Heinemanwill executive produce the series with Studiocanal’s Ron Halpern and Shana Eddy overseeing the production for the studio. It was brought in by Studiocanal’s Leena Lancashire Iglesias. Liv, a single mom of three is commissioned to paint a mural in a decommissioned lighthouse, called The Longing, which was built over the grounds where women were held before being burned alive as Witches. While there-she and two of her daughters go missing. Mabel goes there in 1950 and Pearl in 1965, along with a good many other girls. Pearl notices strange happenings and events in and around the house. One day, she meets a mysterious young woman and a boy on the grounds. Together, they start to unravel the hidden secrets even as darkness threatens to swallow them whole. The bothy was small but efficiently organized. A door at the rear of the kitchen led to a scullery with a washing machine and loo. Three bedrooms provided ample sleeping space with freshly made-up beds, and there was a bathroom with a shower cubicle.

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Twenty-two years later, Luna has been searching for her missing sisters and mother. When she receives a call about her youngest sister, Clover, she’s initially ecstatic. Clover is the sister she remembers–except she’s still seven years old, the age she was when she vanished. Luna is worried Clover is a wildling. Luna has few memories of her time on the island, but she’ll have to return to find the truth of what happened to her family. But she doesn’t realize just how much the truth will change her.

Well now, that's lovely," Isla said. "My daughter, Rowan, is fifteen. I'm sure you'll meet soon enough. Now, come and sit down. I've made you all some supper." I received an eARC of The Lighthouse Witches from Berkley in return for casting one or two minor spells. Thanks to EK, and NetGalley for facilitating.

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Happy Halloween! Today is the perfect day to curl up with a spooky read (really, the entire month of October is) and I’ve got a stellar recommendation for getting you into the Halloween spirit. The Lighthouse Witches by C.J. Cooke landed on my doorstep towards the end of this month, so I squeezed it in so I could finish it by October 31, and I’m so glad I did, because it’s all about witches, PLUS its got a fantastic Halloween scene in it. And compared to some of the more violent horror novels I’ve read this month, this one isn’t gory, so it’s a more accessible story with wider appeal.

The author has seamlessly woven a story between the past and the present involving witch’s curses, wildlings, superstition and folklore that has kept the villagers living in fear since 1662. When an ancient book belonging to the descendant of an islander, a ‘Grimoire’ is discovered which details the witch hunts and the unjust treatment meted out to those suspected of witchcraft, the creep factor goes up even more as the actions of the accusers and retaliation of those accused will cast their shadows on the island for generations. I don’t think I’ve read a more perfect opening-line to a gothic horror novel in long time, and The Ghost Woods only got better from that point on. An overgrown house in the woods, whispered legends of ghosts and witchcraft, a child who isn’t quite a child, and a pregnant woman sent to give birth amidst it all. If you’re still looking for your perfect Halloween-read, look no further because this is my definitive recommendation for 2022. Thank you to HarperCollins as well as NetGalley for providing me with a free eARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

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The Scottish setting of Lichen Hall, Cooke has truly painted a vivid picture of this stately home, turned home for 'fallen women'. 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. Luna is the main character from the contemporary storyline. She’s an adult now, and pregnant. The pregnancy is very much wanted but she’s torn over her relationship. We learn that she’s been in rehabilitation for many years after what happened on Lòn Haven. Like her mother, Liv, she’s tough, but she also needs to confront things. She was abandoned at the age of nine and has never worked out why. It haunts her. Norwegian fjords and folktales are beautifully evoked in this vivid and compelling novel.”—Rosamund Lupton, New York Times bestselling author of Sister