The Curse of the Cole Women

Thompson (The Last Witch in Edinburgh) spins a haunting gothic tale of generational trauma, misogyny, and the blurred line between madness and magic. For centuries, the Cole women of Juniper Island have kept the lighthouse lit, bound by a curse that ensures each lighthouse keeper will have exactly one daughter, who will inherit her mother’s place—and eventually surrender her life to the sea. Thompson interweaves the fates of Mabel Cole in 1951, her daughter, Rebecca, in 1971, and her granddaughter, Simone, in 1998. Each struggles under the weight of inherited duty and community ostracism while yearning for love and belonging. This nonlinear structure creates a sense of inevitability as they hurtle toward their fates. Thompson’s prose vividly evokes the New Hampshire coast and captures the fraught intimacy of mother-daughter bonds, while successfully balancing the gothic and the psychological, calling into question whether the curse is really supernatural or the product of generational wounds. The presentation of the feminist themes occasionally verges on didactic, but the emotional thrust of the Coles’ story—particularly Mabel’s tender romance and Simone’s reckoning with her heritage—is poignant and impactful. This atmospheric exploration of sorrow and resilience will resonate with fans of Practical Magic and Spells for Forgetting. (Dec.)