The Lighthouse Witches Book Review
General Spoiler Warning: some of what is discussed may be seen as spoilers, read with caution.
“We are not just made of stories. Some of us have our stories told for us, others write their own—you wrote yours.”
I am the moodiest of mood readers and it seems to only amp up around this time of year. Over the last month or so, I’ve been leaning more towards horror or witchy reads as we find ourselves in spooky season. As I was listening to the most recent Patreon only Indie Press List episode from the Currently Reading Podcast, Meredith and Kaytee mentioned a book that piqued my interest. At the time of listening, I was planning a trip to Edinburgh, Scotland, my favorite city. Edinburgh is one of the most haunted cities in the world and as our trip was quickly approaching, I was searching for a book in Scotland that I could bring along and read while I was there to add to my enjoyment of the trip. It just so happened that one of the books on the Indie Press List for this month was not only a spooky book about witches, but it was also set on a remote island in Scotland. It literally ticked all boxes for me.
The Lighthouse Witches follows Liv, an artist who has been commissioned to paint a mural in The Longing, an old lighthouse set on the remote island of Lon Haven in the Scottish Highlands. Liv hastily leaves York, bringing her three daughters, Sapphire, Luna, and Clover along with her as they embark on this new journey, and hopefully a new start, in Scotland. When they arrive, Liv soon realizes that things aren’t what they seem as she begins to learn about the Scottish Witch Trials of Lon Haven and the deep and tangible connection they have to The Longing.
The setting of this book could not be any more perfect. C.J. Cooke does an incredible job painting the dreary Scottish atmosphere that I know and love. Her descriptions of Scotland made me feel like I was back driving around the highlands. She weaves together the accurate history of the Scottish Witch Trials with perfectly spooky elements that indeed creeped me out as I was reading. I could see the darkness around me, could feel the ice cold wind on my skin, could see the tall, decrepit lighthouse as I read. I absolutely love when a book can act as a bridge, transporting you to a specific place.
This book is told from the perspective of a few different characters and in different time periods. We have characters telling us their perspectives in 2021, in 1998, and in the 1600’s through the reading of grimoire. Writing it out looks confusing, but Cooke does an incredible job of weaving the threads of these time jumps together in a way that isn’t confusing and is very easy to follow.
“We think that time moves forward, in a linear fashion. Yeah? But sometimes you get deja vu, or there’s some mad coincidence that you can’t explain. I think time doesn’t move in linear fashion but in a spiral, and sometimes there’s echoes from the past. And a ghost is just an echo of someone.”
We follow four main characters in this novel:
Liv: An artist haunted by loss and trauma who is just trying to do right by her three daughters.
Luna: Daughter to Liv who’s gaps in her own memory haunt her in a way that she can’t really understand.
Sapphire: Also daughter to Liv and angsty teen who doesn’t understand her mother’s actions and is trying to figure out the world for herself, as we all do at 15.
The Grimoire of Patrick Roberts from the 1600s: I’m including this as a main character because we get snippets of Patrick Robert’s life through his grimoire as Sapphire is reading it.
This was a delightfully engaging book the whole way through. There is a central mystery element to this story that I really wanted to know more about and the creepy moments really kept me on my toes. This story also has a touch of sci-fi, which I enjoy.
Prior to traveling to Scotland on this most recent trip, I didn’t really know much about the Scottish Witch Trials. I really only knew about the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts. But on a tour around the city of Edinburgh, our tour guide mentioned the trials and how it is estimated that between 3,000-4,000 people, mostly poor women, were executed for witchcraft. These women weren’t just executed at the stake, some were brutally tortured before they were executed. To put this into perspective for you, during the Salem Witch Trials, arguably the most famous and well known of all the witch trials, 19 people were executed for witchcraft. It was fascinating that as I was learning about this very true and real part of Scotland’s history from our tour guide, I was also just starting The Lighthouse Witches.
This was a perfect historical fiction book for the fall season. I know not everyone is as obsessed with Scotland as I am, but this book is a wonderful spooky read, perfect for this time of year!
I would highly recommend this book if you:
Are looking for the perfect spooky book for the fall season
Enjoy reading historical fiction
Like reading very atmospheric books
Enjoy a bit of sci-fi in your novels
I would not recommend this book to:
If you don’t like creepy books
If mentions of witchcraft are bothersome to you
Star rating: 5
