WE WERE LIARS

E. Lockhart is the author of four books about Ruby Oliver: The Boyfriend List, The Boy Book, The Treasure Map of Boys, and Real Live Boyfriends. She also wrote Fly on the Wall, Dramarama, and How to Be Bad (the last with Sarah Mlynowski and Lauren Myracle). Her novel, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, was a Printz Award Honor Book, a finalist for the National Book Award, and recipient of the Cybils Award for Best Young Adult Novel.

Author Website

“Thrilling, beautiful, and blisteringly smart, We Were Liars is utterly unforgettable.”—John Green, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars

“You’re going to want to remember the title. Liars details the summers of a girl who harbors a dark secret, and delivers a satisfying, but shocking twist ending.”—Breia Brissey, Entertainment Weekly

“Lockhart has created a mystery with an ending most readers won’t see coming, one so horrific it will prompt some to return immediately to page one to figure out how they missed it. At the center of it is a girl who learns the hardest way of all what family means, and what it means to lose the one that really mattered to you.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Surprising, thrilling, and beautifully executed in spare, precise, and lyrical prose, Lockhart spins a tragic family drama, the roots of which go back generations. And the ending? Shhhh. Not telling. (But it’s a doozy)…This is poised to be big.”—Booklist, starred review

1. Describe the Sinclairs. In what ways are their family experiences unique? In what ways are they like most other families? How do they deal with deaths, addictions, and the tragedies that afflict all types of families?

2. In what ways does her father’s abandonment of their family impact Cadence? What can be inferred about his choice to no longer live as part of the Sinclair family?

3. Consider Cadence’s narration. Though she freely admits she remembers little and is on a number of medications, do you believe her version of the story?

4. What role does Cadence’s grandfather play in the story? How does his role as patriarch of the family define the choices made by his children and grandchildren? To what extent is he to blame for the shortcomings of others?

5. When describing her aunt’s divorce, Cadence states, “I don’t know what happened. The family never speaks of it.” In what ways does the family’s curtain of politeness paralyze them?

6. When Cady falls in love with Gat, their relationship and his role as an outsider to the family threatens to overturn the social order. In your opinion, what is the real danger of their relationship? To whom?

7. Discuss the significance of the title, We Were Liars. In what ways does it accurately describe the events and relationships portrayed in the novel?

8. How does the author’s use of Shakespeare’s King Lear and Brontë’s Wuthering Heights influence the story?

9. Compare the parent/child relationships in the story. To what extent are the relationships of these characters shaped by the world around them? To what extent do their relationships shape that world?

10. Consider the moral questions raised by this novel. How are racism, land ownership, inheritance, materialism, greed, and manipulation handled by Lockhart? In your opinion, in what ways do these elements enrich the story?

11. Do you believe the Liars were justified in any way to commit the crime they committed? Was the crime successful in any way?

12. Was the ending a surprise, or did you see it coming? Return to earlier passages in the book and locate instances of Lockhart’s use of foreshadowing of events to come.

13. What do you feel Cadence comes to learn at the end of the novel? In your opinion, what insights are gained?

14. What five words would you use to describe We Were Liars?