The Cliffs

The house on the cliff is the novel’s central motif. Formerly known as the Lake Grove Inn, this house connects to every woman in the novel, including Jane, even when she’s unaware of her connection to its history. The house represents women’s history, which for many generations centered on the domestic sphere for the women living in and managing the house. Through the house’s history, the novel explores the theme of Women’s Purpose in the Family and Community. The house’s history unfolds through the stories of Hannah and Eliza and those of Marilyn, Mary, Shirley, and Jane. The house is an important part of Jane’s life from high school until the novel’s end, when she’s running a museum there, fulfilling the house’s continuing role as a center for women’s work.

In addition, the house connects to another theme, The Potential Subjectivity of Historical Accounts. Although the house’s plaque commemorates Samuel Littleton as the original owner, he rarely spent time there; he was at sea for most of his life. Instead, Hannah and Eliza lived in and ran the house. They represent its hidden history because their stories were lost due to their lack of representation in the accepted historical narrative (fabricated to paint white colonization in a positive light). Hannah and Eliza’s long, intimate partnership until Eliza’s death is a key facet of the house’s history that no one knows. Through the same theme, the house connects to the motif of St. George’s Island: The house looks out on the island, and the novel’s final chapters reveal the truth about the abducted men through the story of Kanti, one of the men’s wives. When Naomi learns this story, it becomes a part of history, which she’s about to share with Jane as the novel ends.