The book, We Were Liars, by E. Lockhart is about an ordinary teenager, Cadence Sinclair. The book begins with Cadence describing her life and her summers spent on Beechwood Island, a private island near Martha’s Vineyard owned by her grandparents. The island contains four houses, one for each of the three daughters and their families and the large estate belonging to the grandparents. Cadence, her cousins, Mirren and Johnny, enjoyed making family memories until summer fifteen. Cadence is in love with an Indian boy Gat, a family friend who has been summering on the island for a year. Cadences blooming crush on Gat becomes a problem for Cadence’s white Protestant family.
Cadence and Gat were just friends, but in summer fifteen on the island, Cadence had an accident near the water and was seriously injured, Ever since then, Cadence suffered from migraines and can remember the accident from Summer Fifteen and not much else. Her mother refuses to tell Cadence the entire story about what happened.
The accident changed Cadence and made her a completely different person. She started falling behind in her classes because of her pain and was forced to retake them. Because of her mental condition, Cadence’s mother decides that it is in Cadences’ best interest to travel with her father in Summer Sixteen, and not return to Beechwood.
The following summer, Summer Seventeen, Cadence returns to Beechwood to find that everything has changed, and nothing will ever be the same again. An enormous tragedy, impacting all the characters, especially Cadence, is slowly revealed and is entirely shocking.
Towards the end, I found this book a little hard to follow. Despite all the confusion, this book was a great thriller that had my eyes glued to the pages. The author did a great job developing the characters and setting the scene. Throughout the book, the author develops the idea that materialistic objects can tear a family apart. The ending didn’t seem like the most logical way to stop the fighting. However, the result of their attempt to stop the fighting really got to my heart as it just made things worse.
Overall, I loved this book and it was one of the best mysteries I have read. It was well written, thrilling, suspenseful, heart-melting, and I know that this book will make people realize how far people will go for their family, and how important family is, as family is everything. E. Lockhart has now published a new book, Genuine Fraud, that has already gotten several good reviews. Can’t wait to read it!