We Were Liars Brief Summary

We believe that time heals.”

We Were Liars, written by the E. Lockhart, is a novel for young adults. It is the story of a well-known family on a private island, four friends and how their friendship takes an unexpected harsh turn.

“Always do what you’re afraid to do.”
― E. Lockhart, We Were Liars

We Were Liars is a 2014 young-adult novel by E. Lockhart. The novel has received critical acclaim and won the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Young Adult Fiction. It was also listed as an ALA Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults for 2015.

We Were Liars focuses on the theme of consequences of one’s mistakes. It is cantered on the wealthy, seemingly perfect Sinclair family, who spend every summer sitting gathered on their private island. However, not every summer is the same—when something happens to Cadence during the summer of her fifteenth year, the four “Liars” (Cadence, Johnny, Gat and Mirren) re-emerge two years later to prompt Cadence to remember incident.

About E. Lockhart

Emily Jenkins (born September 13, 1967), who sometimes uses the pen name E. Lockhart, is an American writer of children’s picture books, young-adult novels, and adult fiction. She is known best for the Ruby Oliver quartet (which begins with The Boyfriend List), The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, and We Were Liars.

We Were Liars Book Overview

“See the world as it is, not as you wish it would be”
― E. Lockhart, We Were Liars

In the book We Were Liars E. Lockhart brings out her best book yet, with an unmatched skill for a lyrical prose. There is a damaged and yet a brilliant lass, a zealous boy and a group of friends, who will linger on in your memory for a long time. What happens when there are lies upon lies built? What happens when the group of friends start their relationship based mostly on untruthful things and it eventually becomes destructive? What becomes of the family from the private island? Read this unputdownable New York Times bestseller novel to gain new perspectives on friendship, love, beauty and truths among other things.

We Were Liars Summary By Chapter

We are liars. We are beautiful and privileged. We are cracked and broken.”

Cadence Sinclair Eastman is the eldest grandchild of the wealthy Harris Sinclair. Although her family pretends to be perfect, Cadence knows that beneath the surface, wealth and privilege have taken an insidious toll on her family and that any unhappiness or odd behaviour is ignored or repressed to perpetuate the image of refinement. Harris has three daughters, Cadence’s mother Penny, and her aunts Carrie and Bess. Harris owns an island called Beechwood Island near Martha’s Vineyard and has built a home for himself along with a house for each of his daughters.

The Sinclairs spend their summers on the island. Cadence and the other older cousins, Mirren, Johnny, along with Gat Patil (the nephew of Carrie’s partner Ed) are known by the family as “The Liars”. The summer Cadence is fifteen, which she refers to as Summer Fifteen, Gat and Cadence fall in love and begin a relationship.

“Silence is a protective coating over pain.”

During Summer Fifteen, Cadence suffers a serious head injury recalling only that she struck her head in the water. She loses most of her memories of that summer and begins to suffer from migraines. She also becomes addicted to Percocet and is forced to repeat a year at school. When she tries to reach out to her cousins she is ignored. Rather than allowing her to go to the island for the summer, Cadence’s mother forces her to go on a tour of Europe with her father, whom Cadence is no longer close to after he had an affair and abandoned the family.

We were warm and shivering, and young and ancient, and alive. I was thinking it’s true we already love each other. already do.”

Summer Seventeen. Cadence is allowed to go back to the island and is surprised to find much has changed. Her controlling grandfather now suffers from dementia. His estate, Clairmont, has been replaced by New Clairmont, a cold architectural monstrosity that has none of the charms of the previous Clairmont. The Liars act strange around Cadence and refuse to talk about what happened in Summer Fifteen. They reject the idea of spending time at New Clairmont and instead camp out at Cuddledown, formerly the estate of Bess and her family.

Cadence begins to slowly remember events from the Summer Fifteen. She recalls that after her grandmother Tipper had died, her mother and aunts began to bicker over their inheritances. Though each woman had been given access to trust funds and education, none of them were able to earn a living independently and continued to depend on their controlling father to ensure their financial futures. Carrie had refused to marry Gat’s uncle despite living together for nine years because Harris is opposed to her marrying a man of Indian descent. Cadence finally remembers that in Summer Fifteen, she proposed that she and the rest of the Liars should burn down Clairmont in order to get the family to stop feuding over the property. She is delighted with the idea that she was able to keep the family together until she recalls that the Liars forgot to release her grandfather’s dogs, killing them. When she goes to Gat for comfort, he asks if she was able to recall anything else. Cadence realizes that Johnny, Mirren, and Gat all died in the fire. She goes to visit the Liars at Cuddledown where they tell her that their deaths were not her fault and reveal that they will no longer be able to appear to her, diving into the ocean and disappearing.