We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

 

 

“Welcome to the beautiful Sinclair family.

 No one is a criminal.

No one is an addict.

No one is a failure.”

 

These are the first words of this amazing novel and explains the title perfectly. The Sinclair family, no matter how beautiful and privileged, are all liars. One of them is most certainly a criminal, half of them are addicts and they are all failing in their own individual ways.

 

E. Lockhart has created one of the most expertly crafted novels I have read in a long time. We Were Liars is a mystery as well as a coming of age novel, centering around the lives of a family of old money democrats, who during the summer all live together on a private island off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. Our protagonist, Cadence Sinclair is recovering from a horrific accident which has left her with amnesia and she spends the summer of her seventeenth year trying to uncover the truth about what happened the last time her and her cousins, the liars, were all together on the island and what went so horribly wrong.

 

The twist in We Were Liars is a BIG one. It is one that will leave you stunned and will make you want to go right back to the beginning and read it all over again. Which I did, I read the whole novel twice in less than 24 hours, and I have to say I think I enjoyed it more the second time. When I knew what was coming I could look for the brilliantly placed clues which were so subtle and clever they took on a double meaning, hence the reason you are so shocked when the truth is finally revealed.

 

This really is a brilliant book. One I know I will go back to and re-read again. Not only for the plot, but also because Lockhart’s writing is flawless. There is an elegance and poetry to her prose which adds real depth to this story. It emphasises the emotions that are running beneath it, something the characters are forced through family tradition and honour to repress.

 

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