#BlogTour ‘The Lighthouse Witches’ by C.J Cooke

About the book…

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.

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.

Oh boy, I have been so excited about this book, and am so very grateful to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for the chance to read and review, ‘The Lighthouse Witches’ by C.J Cooke, which is published by Harper Collins!

How do you follow the phenomenal success of your debut novel when it is as brilliant as ‘The Nesting’?

Well, you take a haunted lighthouse, apply the gothic sensibility to the tale of 3 sisters, and  dial the atmosphere up to 11.

Add in a beautiful cover, and you have the makings of something super special, and oh so timely for the twilight of the year.

It is FANTASTIC.

Mixing ancient and modern storytelling techniques, crossed with the motif of the swapped, or stolen children, you follow the stories of Luna and Liv as they search for answers which may not even exist. The elemental aspects of life at the lighthouse contrast beautifully with the motif of the mural being re-imagined by Liv, she is creating as nature is undoing.

What is the truth about the stories of witches and wildlings?

And will uncovering it answer the question of what happened to Clover and Sapphire?

There are so many wonderful things to appreciate in this novel, the multiple timelines and the sense that the story is essentially painting a mural of the experience of women, as single, as mothers, as daughters and as sisters.

The connection between generations of women viewed with suspicion, for having their own crafts, their own ways is a universal theme and, as you read, you think about what the equivalent of the modern day witch trial would be. It is phrase often bandied around in the media which suggests relentless hounding, until the person under attack submits.

The notion of maternal mental health is strongly felt throughout , is there a connection between being a mother and creating art, does the act of creating life enhance, or detract ,from this?

It is a beautifully rendered tale of women, strong women, and the men who abandon them, scorn them and even condemn them.

This is a book constructed on a bedrock of immense power and relatability, against which societal tropes try to batter it down with waves of oppression, superstition and fear .

As you immerse yourself deep in the multi generational stories of these women, you can feel their narrative singing their way into your consciousness, and it is best to really surrender yourself to the experience . Get lots of easy to cook meals, make yourself a flask of your favourite drink, and hand yourself over to one of the most exciting talents to emerge in modern gothic fiction. Haunting, lyrical, unforgettable, The Lighthouse Witches has it all.

*Also, as an aside , I am using this novel as a prompt in my ongoing attempt to get my husband to consider moving to either a haunted lighthouse or windmill, far away from civilization. As a kind of compromise, he has booked a holiday in a (possibly haunted) water mill for 2023 which gives me the impression I am slowly winning him over….*

About the author…

C. J. Cooke is an award-winning poet and novelist published in twenty-three languages.

She teaches creative writing at the University of Glasgow, where she also researches the impact of motherhood on women’s writing and creative writing interventions for mental health.

Links-http://www.cjcookeauthor.com/

Twitter @CJessCooke @RandomTTours @HarperCollinsUK