We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Amazon Link

Every summer, privileged Cadence Sinclair Eastman and her family members gather on their own private island off the coast of Cape Cod. Summers are filled with lemonade and games of scrabble, while their mothers argue about their future inheritance. Cadence is introduced to Gat, and quickly falls in love with him despite the fact that he an "Idian boy" and not accepted by her family. Together with two cousins, Cadence and Gat form a group called the liars. The next summer when Cadence is fifteen, Gat breaks her heart, her grandmother dies, and her parents split up. She also suffers from a mysterious accident that causes Cadence to lose her memory and suffer from migraines. Cadence can not understand why her "liars" are no longer answering their phones. She is prescribed heavy painkillers by the doctor for her migraines, and doesn't return to the island until for another two summers. Once there, with the help of the "liars," Cadence is able to remember that her mother and aunts were fighting over their inheritance. Cadence and her group decided to burn the house down so there was nothing left to fight over, and Cadence ends up being the only one to survive. Cadence realizes that her liars are all ghosts that she has been talking to, and she is now ready to let them move on to the afterlife.
Readers will enjoy the mystery and intrigue in this realistic fiction novel, as Cadence tries to remember what happened to her and piece her life back together.

Grades 9 & up.


Lockhart, E. (2014). We were liars. New York: Delacorte.

Book trailer 

Study guide