THE CLIFFS

by J. Courtney Sullivan

In thinking about the two novels I’ve chosen to review this issue, it occurs to me that they have significant similarities.  Both are written by women and have strong female protagonists.  Both deal with issues of ownership and/or usurping the rights of others.  And both are absolutely “must-reads.”

J. Courtney Sullivan’s latest book The Cliffs takes place in a fictitious small town in southern Maine.  After our protagonist, Jane Flanagan, blows up her career as an esteemed archivist at Harvard, she returns to Maine to find that the old Victorian house she has admired and dreamed about since she was a child, has been sold and renovated.  Outraged, she drowns her sorrows in alcohol – the abuse of which resulted in her lost job.  She devises a plan to befriend the house’s new owner, who actually hires her to research the house’s history and determine whether it is haunted.  As Jane unravels the mysteries of the house, her own life similarly unravels, causing breaks with her husband and best friend.  With each additional loss, Jane’s drinking gets more out of control.

This story may sound like others you’ve read before.  But Sullivan explores a number of timely, pertinent issues.  All of Jane's relationships are affected by her increased reliance on alcohol and are written with brutal honesty.  Sullivan also examines the influx of wealthy city people to small towns and how they alter their real estate and also the character of the whole town. Perhaps most powerfully, Jane discovers the roles that previous generations of strong women have played in establishing the character of her town.

The Cliffs looks at one house’s history from several different angles and in the end, the reader looks at the history in a much-expanded manner.  Similar to By Any Other Name, the author examines the story from the perspectives of characters whose voices we don't often hear.  The Cliffs will pull you into its multi-faceted narrative and keep you reading well into the night. (Liz)