There was no doubt in my mind that I would love this book. Witches, an isolated Scottish Island, secrets which echo through the years. But I had no idea just how twisty and dark this story would become. Without giving too much away, it reminded me of the Netflix show Dark, with its complex plot and gothic themes. The beautifully described Lon Haven and The Longing come alive as characters in their own right, the legacy of the witches burned centuries before. The Lighthouse Witches is a dark, haunting tale which made my heart race and kept me up at night, desperately turning the pages.

Alongside themes of feminism, motherhood and redemption, I definitely sensed an underlying theme of fear and how it can affect our lives. We often hear the term 'hysteria' with regard to witch trials, and you can feel the islanders' hysteria whenever they suspect a wildling has darkened their door. And behind hysteria is, often, fear. I won't speculate on the author's intentions, but we are living in an age where people can get whipped up into a frenzy and find themselves on certain paths, and the behaviour of the islanders is reflective of that. If we ever wonder how we could have burned women at the stake, we only need to look at how fear motivates us today and what we could do to make ourselves feel safe, even if there is nothing to be afraid of.

Loved this book. A tale of folklore, witches, time slipping and murder. Oh and a lighthouse. What could be more intriguing. Based on a remote island in Scotland it tells the story of a mother and her three daughters who come to the island so the mother can paint a mural in the lighthouse. BUT where did the mother and two daughters disappear to. The only way to find out is to read the book which I highly recommend if you love all things witchy.

Found this one quite slow paced throughout. Some really great sections and a great mysterious theme. Lots of creepy moments, suspicious goings on and very gothic.

It took me forever to get into this book,there was no reason for this,other than it felt a bit slow.
By three quarters of the way through,I felt it ramped up the pace and threw in a few things I wasn't really expecting.
A pleasant enough read,but nothing overly memorable.

I always get super excited when I see that there's a new C.J. Cooke book available, but was especially excited for this one. Lighthouses, you say? And witches? Colour me intrigued.

"The Lighthouse Witches" is the story of Liv, single mother of three daughters, Sapphire, Luna and Clover. When she is commissioned to paint a mural in an old lighthouse on a remote Scottish island, she sees it as an opportunity for a new start. But a growing sense of unease begins to creep in. When Liv finds out that women accused of being witches were held at the lighthouse before their trials, she is appalled. But that's not the worst of it. The islanders still believe that the witches created wildlings as a form of revenge - creatures that look exactly like their own human children but which will slay entire bloodlines unless they are killed first.

Liv isn't sure what she believes. But when two of her daughters go missing, she will stop at nothing to find them...

Fast forward twenty-two years later, and the story is now being told through the eyes of Luna, pregnant with her first child, and still desperately searching for the mother and sister who disappeared from that Scottish island so long ago. Luna remembers little of that time, only that her entire family disappeared without trace, and that she was subsequently brought up in foster care. When Luna receives a call saying that her sister, Clover, has been found and is currently being treated in hospital, she is initially ecstatic. and races to be by her long lost sister's side. But when Luna gets to the hospital, she is greeted by a sight she never could have predicted: her sister, still seven years old, exactly as she remembers her.

With Clover in her custody, Luna must return to the island to find the answers she so desperately needs. But with Clover's behaviour becoming increasingly erratic, Luna must confront the myths the islanders told her about so long ago and unravel fact from fiction. Is her sister a wildling? A witch? Or something else entirely? And what happened to her mother, and to her other sister, all those years ago? The truth is waiting....if Luna is brave enough to face it.

I love, love, LOVED this novel. I had a sneaking suspicion I would anyway, given that C.J. Cooke is one of my favourite authors, and also I love historical witchy stories, but there was so much more to it than I could have predicted. The elements of historical fiction, gothic horror, and contemporary thriller are woven together so beautifully and so deftly, and I was hooked from the first chapter. Like Norway in the author's most recent book, "The Nesting", the Scottish island becomes almost a character in its own right, and the human protagonists are such wholly rounded and beautifully realised characters that I genuinely felt for them - I was really rooting for Luna to find out what had happened to her family, and hurt for her and how she had spent her childhood, but also really wanted to believe in Liv, and the sisters, that they hadn't abandoned Luna out of choice.

I won't say any more as I don't want to give anything away, but I can't recommend this book highly enough. A genre-bending, beautifully written and complex story about motherhood, family, witchcraft, love, and redemption. I loved every page of it.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for granting me a free ARC copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This title is the first that I have read by C.J. Cooke and I really enjoyed it.
It tells the story of Olivia who in 1998 brings her three daughters to The Black Isle , she is an artist and has been asked to paint a mural in the lighthouse. Most of the woman disappear under questionable circumstances.
The story then moves forward to 2021 when a sister reappears and Luna goes back to the island to meet the sister she thought she'd never see again.
The story is full of slightly unsettling atmosphere , spooky characters , and things that are not quite of this earth.
A fantastic read that has a bit of everything to keep you entertained .

This witchy novel splices more than one genre. Full of twists and turns, and with a superb cast, this book ticks all the boxes.

Liv, a single mum to three girls, takes a commission to paint a mural in a lighthouse on a remote Scottish island. Two of her daughters go missing and the local community speak of wildlings and witchcraft. When over twenty years later one of the girls reappears but not having aged at all, superstitions and stories seem to have substance after all. What follows is a dark and intense discovery of the past and the present, where no one is quite what they seem.

This book is superb, completely original and puts a whole new spin on the witch genre.

In this compelling tale, Cooke expertly weaves her narrative combining history, magic and mystery to tell the story of the Stay sisters Saffy, Luna and Clover and their mum Liv, who encounter numerous dangers when myths and suspicions collide on the beautiful Scottish Black Isle.
The tale moves from the time of the infamous witch trials to the arrival of the family to the island in 1998 and then to the present day, when Luna is desperately searching for the truth behind events of October 1998. And during these three different times, the tale is old from three viewpoints of Liv (mother) in 1998, Luna (sister) in 2021, and from the entries in a grimoire from 1620.
There are just enough echoes of gothic horror to keep the reader avidly turning the pages but Cooke ensures that the tale does not become overly macabre.
I love history, magic and mystery and Cooke expertly weaves these elements into the rich tapestry that forms 'The Lighthouse Witches'.

A wonderful Gothic tale of sisters and witches and a lighthouse.

I managed to miss Carolyn Cooke's last book, "The Nesting", so when a NetGalley ARC of her new work, "The Lighthouse Witches" came up, I jumped at the chance to read it.

In 1998, artist Olivia Stay arrives on The Black Isle with her three daughters, having seemingly rushed there from England under strange circumstances. She has been commissioned by an absent writer to paint a mural in a previously abandoned lighthouse. Things happen, and most of the family disappears, never to be seen again.

Fast forward to 2021, and the third daughter, Luna, is still struggling with the events of 1998, when suddenly news arrives that one of her sisters has turned up - exactly as she was over twenty years ago.

And with that we are launched into a glorious, Gothic tale of family, parenthood, sisterhood and witchcraft. There's a touch of Witchfinder General in here, but much more too. The book is alive with Gothic imagery and characters. We have a mysterious housekeeper, an even more mysterious owner and a Grimoire. We have a dark secret past, and an even darker, deeper history that impacts Luna today. We have fae, and changelings. It all adds up to a wonderful montage of characters and places.

The writing is tight and lyrical in places and descriptions of the wild cost of Scotland, and The Longing, which is the lighthouse, build the tension nicely. And it does build, into a race to solve the mystery, and which really did make me turn the next page, then the next.

As is often the case nowadays, the book takes place across two time periods. I'm done having a go at authors who do this, and accept it as the way modern books are often written. "The Lighthouse Witches is written from the point of view of both Olivia, or Liv, and her daughter, Luna. We also see extracts from a diary, or grimoire, apparently belonging to the absent writer.

This book will appeal to readers of Louisa Morgan, Hester Fox and Stacey Halls. Definitely recommended.

Another well-written book from this dependable author. Ideal for readers who like a touch of fantasy with their gothic horror. With thanks to the author, the publisher and Net Galley for the opportunity to read an early copy.,