This novel follows generations of Cole women who maintain a lighthouse on a small island off of New Hampshire. Their family line comes with a curse. There are always two Cole women on Juniper island, and every birth comes with a death: the older Cole woman will walk into the ocean, joining the ghosts of the women who came before her. If the Cole women ever leave the island entirely, the angry ocean will claim the islanders’ lives who dare to try to cross it.
This book is described as a gothic novel, and the plot synopsis I just gave you would lead you to believe it. But while that is an element of the story, it’s secondary to the multigenerational family narrative. We follow three generations of Cole women as they each struggle to find their place. The inhabitants of Juniper Island ostracize the Cole women as witches—even though they believe that their presence there is a necessity to keep the ocean from claiming more lives. Each Cole woman deals with this social isolation differently; some try to charm the islanders, some embrace the witch stereotypes, and some try to leave entirely.
This chain of mother and daughters is fraught: the daughters blame their mothers for the islanders’ hatred of them… until they grow up and realize nothing they do is good enough to shake the “witch” label. Mabel distanced herself from her mother, realizing too late that turning away from her didn’t gain Mabel social approval. She adores her own daughter, Rebecca, but despite her best efforts, that pattern plays out again with a daughter who desperately wants to fit in. Rebecca’s daughter, Simone, has to deal with not only the hateful town but also a resentful mother with untreated addiction and mental health issues.
Unsurprisingly, my favourite point of view character was Mabel. What sapphic reader can resist a story about two women in the 1950s building a library together and falling in love? Unfortunately, things aren’t that simple. Mabel’s love interest, Evelyn, is married to an abusive man from the most powerful family in town, and that reality soon crashes into the bubble of happiness Mabel and Evelyn made together, with consequences that ripple through generations.
There were some aspects of the book I didn’t love, like the description of how the curse first happened; I find it hard to believe that someone would say, “May there never be more than two Cole women living and the world will be better off.” Wouldn’t you just curse the Cole line to die out entirely? Why exactly two? Also, there is some repetition in the text as well as several moments where the main characters go out of their way to say that they don’t agree with prejudices of the time, which felt a little clunky.
But overall, I really enjoyed the portrait of this family and the way it spiraled through the characters’ stories. Lesbrary readers will be interested to know this has two sapphic (bisexual) main characters, though Simone’s queerness isn’t as big of a part of the plot. Two of the point of view characters are also Jewish, and we see how this element of their identity is embraced, rejected, and rediscovered through the generations.
If you’re looking for a multigenerational story about mother and daughters with a witchy element, I definitely recommend this one. I think it will appeal to fans of books like Practical Magic.
Content warnings: Suicide, abusive relationship, neglectful parenting, addiction, antisemitism, homophobia, murder
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