At times it’s creepy and menacing as a suspenseful dark tale unfolds with even darker deeds which includes betrayal, murder, destruction, some cruelty, manipulation and violence. There is a big mystery that lies at the heart of Lichen Hall and the further the Pearl in particular digs, the more horrifying it becomes. While not exactly a hair-raising read for me, (few are) I did find some scenes in the book pretty scary, less, maybe, for the magical terror involved, than for the willingness of people to do terrible things in the name of insane beliefs, a terror we live with every day, and the fear any parent might feel when their child is in danger. I liked Liv and her daughters' story. It was an emotional journey and I shed some tears towards the end of the book —on the last 3 chapters. You can feel her struggles with her illness, raising 3 kids on her own —one of them being a rebel teenager— and trying to protect her family. I liked Saffy, Luna and Clover as well. I felt bad for Saffy after Brodie played with her. Luna grow up as a broken kid, haunted by the ghost of her past and what happened with her mother and sisters and how she tried so bad to get her family again. I wanted to protect Clover at all cost. I raced through this. This book was creepy and atmospheric within the first couple of chapters... and this continued through out the novel, drawing me in.

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. Wow. This is a superb Gothic thriller , we have sorcery, witchcraft, magic, spells and curses which reveals a creepy world full of superstition, apparitions and the wildlings, the latter completely capturing my imagination. The premise and unfolding dark events are really creative and original and I’m spellbound caught up in the enchanting, well written storyline which mesmerises as it weaves the fantastic tale. I love the superstitious folk lore element with the earlier timeline of the Grimoire being some of my favourite sections as it tells of dangerous times of witch-finders and so on. The setting principally on the island is fantastic as it lends a haunting, threatening, fearful , malevolent presence especially in and around The Longing which feels alive. At the start when we first meet the Stay family there are some good touches of humour which contrasts starkly with later dark events. The characterisation is excellent, even peripheral characters have depth. This is a very clever story which although it centres in witchcraft it is also about love, motherhood and family. My only slight negative is that maybe the end is a bit convenient but that’s not to say I don’t like it as I do! The author does such a fantastic job of weaving together the stories of the past, present and future, without leaving the reader confused. The lighthouse witches was a perfect blend of fantasy , history and mythology. It was such an atmospheric read, that I almost convinced myself I was on the Scottish isle 😂Despite its widespread recognition, “The Lottery” has received only a few screen adaptations over the years. The earliest was in Cameo Theatre , a long lost 1950s anthology series notable for its minimalistic production design. Then there was Larry Yust’s ‘69 short-film; this piece of kindertrauma captures the source material’s unmatched ability to go from casual to ghastly in mere seconds. This chilling tale weaves a web of superstition and truth that fans of Gothic horror won’t want to miss."— Library Journal When one of Liv’s daughters finds an ancient text in their little home beside the lighthouse, potential links to the present and future begin to form, but I had to constantly remind myself that hundreds of years divided these storylines, so my insistence on seeing patterns and connections wasn’t always possible. Despite all the uncertainty I experienced while reading, the end of the book was surprisingly uplifting, considering the muddle of problems previously worked through. I will fully admit that this book gave me all the creepy, spooky dark Halloween vibes I was expecting. I was engrossed in the story and wanted to work out what was going on. There were lies, secrets, love, friendship and so much that the end felt like a whirlwind. I love that the story is based on real places and whilst the events in this book did not happen, establishments like Lichen Hall did exist and it’s scary to think of the trauma’s many young women and children faced in such recent times.

Will Pearl ever succeed in freeing herself and her new friends from Nicnevin’s grasp or has she already been infected with the very thing that surrounds the grounds? This is dismissed as ancient folklore, mythology and legend, except that every member of the family vanishes, only Luna is left behind. More than two decades later, a haunted and traumatised Luna is pregnant, still harbouring hopes that her family will return. Then she gets a call that informs her that her sister, Clover, has been found alive, but impossibly Clover is still 7 years old, how could that be? Moreover, Clover's strange behaviour has Luna wondering if she is a wilding, all of which has her returning to the island, to her memories, and in search of the truth of the mystery of what happened to her family all those years ago. The narrative is split between three timelines, from the 17th century from a grimoire of magic, spells and diary, from the family in 1998, and in the present with Luna. It was like the tv show, Dark featuring witches and eery vibes. We learn how a rational and logic-minded person can lost their shit when weird or emotional things happen, how that thin line between reality and tales can be crossed in one single step. As the truth begins to surface, the darkness grows closer for it may already be too late to save those who Pearl cares about most for Nicnevin, Scotlands Hecate, stalks her prey, knowing they can never leave and it is this power of fear and the unknowing that she thrives and grows stronger with each birth she witnesses as she knows a new child means her life is extended indefinitely as long as she can maintain appearances. CBTB: Last but certainly not least: as we look forward to the publication of THE LIGHTHOUSE WITCHES this fall, what are you most excited about?From the first word, the story throws you into the fray of long ago women being accused of witchcraft, with no chance of them being judged anything but guilty. So be it, as the aggressors, and all that come after them, are cursed, the curses to be carried out by wildlings. There seems to be no escape from this curse as those cursed do the unthinkable. The sense of foreboding and danger is constant and it seems impossible that things can ever change for the better. 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.

I think it's intentional but there are a couple loose ends that I wanted a bit more closure on, but that's just me wanting everything to be wrapped up neatly! Pearl Gorham arrives to the crumbling Lichen Hall in 1965, one of many a woman to be sent to give birth under the shadows to stay clean of scandal and society’s judgements and it isn’t long before Pearl suspects the proprietors are hiding something and when she meets a strange mother and her young son who live on the grounds, it’s only the beginning of what she is to uncover among the dark and twisted history of this once grand estate. The move comes after The Picture Company and Studiocanal reupped their multi-year deal to make a number of films per year. Part of the deal sees the two companies move into TV – they are already working on a series adaptation of the Johnnie To action thriller Drug War, with Jett’s Sebastian Gutierrez attached. Norwegian fjords and folktales are beautifully evoked in this vivid and compelling novel."—Rosamund Lupton, New York Times bestselling author of Sister The lighthouse is in a dilapidated condition and has a history of witch huntings attached to it, as too have other parts of the island. It’s clearly somewhere with a strange unwelcoming vibe.I have to say that The Nesting is perhaps the best book I’ve ever read (in this genre) so my expectations were quite high. The narrative follows three different perspectives, over two timelines: Liv, Saffy and Luna, with past and present perspectives. At times the story is a little fantasy driven, a little too much “outside the realm of possibility” in some ways.