We Were Liars Summary
We Were Liars is a story about the beautiful Sinclair family. They are beautiful, blond, picture-perfect, and reputed. They spend their summer on their private island off the coast of Massachusetts with ivory statues, linen sheets, and luxurious mansions.
Everything and everyone is perfect; no one is a liar or a criminal. Behind their perfect façade, they are just as flawed and human. How long can they keep up their mask? Here’s We Were Liars Summary.
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| Pages | 225 |
| Genre | Coming Of Age, Young Adult Romance |
| Age Rating | 14+ |
| Themes | Family, Materialism, Teenage Shenanigans, Angst |
| Readability | Easy |
| Trigger Warnings | Character Death, Racism, Accidents, Mental Health, Memory Loss, Emotional Intensity |
We Were Liars Characters
Harris
Cadence
Gat
Johnny
Mirren
Harris Sinclair is the patriarch of the renowned Sinclair family. He takes great pride in his family’s legacy. He desires a perfect family with the typical Sinclair reputation. He won’t tolerate any outsiders or new perspectives in the family. He also displays racist behavior. He is authoritative and manipulative. He uses his financial means and ownership over the property to manipulate his daughters.
He has three daughters: Carrie, Bess, and Penny. He takes pride in his wealth and influence and doesn’t consider anyone else’s feelings. His sole consideration is the family’s reputation. He pressurizes his daughters into upholding the family legacy by threatening them with disownment. His unchanging, controlling, and manipulative demeanor causes tension between Carrie, Bess, and Penny as they fight for his support.
Cadence is the protagonist of the story. She is the eldest grandchild of Harris Sinclair. She possesses the typical Sinclair features: blond, fair, tall, and merry. She remained in Harris’s good grace until she began to challenge his beliefs. Cadence enjoyed going to Beechwood Island because she could meet her people. Her Liars. Her small group consisted of Gat, Johnny, and Mirren.
They were inseparable. One day, a fifteen-year-old Cadence woke up to find herself shivering and injured near a rock on the beechwood island. She has no memory of how she got there. She lost two years of memory. But she knows something happened. Because the liars are not talking to her, and something is going on.
Gatwick Matthew Patil always knew he was an outsider. His brown skin contrasted with the white of the Sinclair. He was the nephew of Carrie’s boyfriend, Ed. Gat, unlike the Sinclair family, was kind, philosophical, and contemplative. He was intelligent and compassionate, often challenging the privileged worldview of the Sinclair family.
He was allowed to spend the summer on Beechwood Island but was never fully accepted. Cadence was drawn to his kind and considerate nature. Gat and Cadence shared a deep emotional bond; they were in love. Then why did he ignore Cadence after the accident? Why did he give her the cold shoulder?
Johnny was the son of Carrie Sinclair and the first grandson of the family. Johnny and Gat were close friends. Johnny was charismatic, carefree, and adventurous. He had an enthusiastic outlook on life and was loyal to his cousins.
He struggled with upholding the pressures of living up to the family’s high expectations. He wanted to live a free life. He refused to bend to Harris’s threats and manipulation. He was a lively, fun, and high-spirited person.
Mirren was the daughter of Bess Sinclair. Mirren is characterized by her warmth and loyalty. She was the empathetic peacemaker of the family. She shared a close bond with Cadence.
Being a Sinclair she struggled with upholding the pressure of maintaining a pristine image. Although she was cheerful on the outside but harbored deep insecurities. She was tired of the constant competition and drama within the family. She only ever wanted a peaceful summer.
We Were Liars Summary
Short Summary
Full Summary
We Were Liars follows the narrative of Cadence Sinclair. She is the eldest grandchild of the privileged Sinclair family. She spends her summers on the family-owned Beechwood Island. When she was eight years old, Gatwick, or Gat, arrived on Beechwood Island. Since then, Cadence, Gat, Johnny, and Mirren have been an inseparable group.
Over the years, Gat and Cadence developed a close bond. They fell in love along the way. Gat was hesitant to pursue Cadence due to their differences. Nonetheless, they were drawn to each other like a moth to flame. Cadence was fifteen when she met with an accident that caused memory loss.
She partially remembered summer fifteen. She continuously suffered from headaches, nausea, and nightmares. After the incident, she spent two years away from Beechwood Island. She was travelling with her father. Cadence continuously wrote emails to Johnny and Mirren, but they never replied. Even Gat ghosted her.
She returned in the third year.
Cadence started noticing weird clues. Like the unnecessary renovation of the place, the absence of their usual dogs, the peace among the family members, and so on. She spent the summer with Johnny, Mirren, and Gat. Things were perfectly fine. Cadence was recovering bits of memories from summer fifteen slowly.
This caused great distress because something definitely happened. Her family is not telling her, but she needs to find out what happened. How did she end up near the rock?
Spoilers Ahead!
We Were Liars follows the story of the Sinclair family. The Sinclair take pride in their materialistic pursuits but hide their broken relationships. They take pride in their family legacy but hide their true emotions. Cadence Sinclair is the eldest grandchild of the family.
She loves spending the summer on Beechwood Island. She gets to see Johnny, Mirren, and Gat. She shared a deep bond with Gat and fell in love with him along the way. It was the best of times. Until her grandmother died, Harris lost all sense of happiness.
He became even more authoritative and manipulative. He caused fights between Carrie, Bess, and Penny over property. The three women fought continuously, forcing their children to gain the favor of Harris. Johnny, Mirren, Cadence, and Gat were tired of the fighting; it was driving the family apart. They needed to do something. And they did.
The story continues as Cadence finds herself shivering near the beach. Apparently, she went for a swim and hit her head. This is what she believes. The injury caused post-traumatic headaches known as PTHA. Migraines, nausea, forgetfulness, and headaches became her constant companions. Her illness caused her to quit school and hobbies.
She just sat at home, wondering why Johnny, Mirren, and Gat never contacted her. She waited for the next summer but was forced to travel with her father. The next summer, too, she was sent with her father. For two years, she didn’t see Johnny, Mirren, or Gat. The following year, she finally returned to Beechwood Island.
Beechwood wasn’t the same.
It had been renovated into a cold, unwelcoming place with grey walls and pastels. Weirdly, the family wasn’t fighting, a few dogs were missing, and her little cousins treated her weirdly. Apart from this, everything was normal. Cadence spent her summer with her usual group. She confronted Gat. There was some push and pull, but they found their way together.
Cadence noticed that Johnny, Gat, and Mirren were making plans without her, keeping things hidden from her. Due to her partial memory loss, she couldn’t keep up with their conversations either. Gradually, the memories were returning. When the final and clear memory of that summer came back, Cadence was flabbergasted.
Major Spoilers Ahead!!
We Were Liars Ending Explained
Cadence remembered that summer. They were all tired of the constant fighting between Carrie, Bess, and Penny. It threatened to destroy their friendship. If that happened she would never see Gat again. Carrie, Bess, Penny, and Harris were all in the town after a terrible fight. Cadence came up with an idea, they must burn down the mansion.
The mansion that caused the rift between the family. She was drunk and giddy. She involved Johnny, Mirren, and Gat into the plan. It was easy, cover the house with gas, then escape, change clothes, and watch. They took canisters of gas and went to their assigned floor. Cadence did her task but in her inebriated state she accidentally dropped the lit matchstick too early.
The fire roared and spread, it didn’t give Johnny, Mirren, and Gat time to escape. They died in the fire while Cadence escaped. She tried saving them but it was useless.
Cadence Sinclair aged fifteen thought she could save the world, thought too bravely of her, thought it was a great idea but it wasn’t.
Johnny, Gat, and Mirren died three years back. The ones Cadence saw were ghosts. Waiting for her.
The story ends with Johnny, Gat, and Mirren bidding goodbye to Cadence and disappearing into the sea.
They were Liars, They were Kids. Maybe it was the adults who were the catalyst of the conflict or maybe it was just teenage mistakes. You Decide.
We Were Liars FAQs
Q1. Is there any romance in We Were Liars?
Ans. Yes, there is romance between Gat and Cadence in We Were Liars.
Q2. Is We Were Liars a spicy book?
Ans. No, We Were Liars focuses on the shallowness of materialistic life and the consequences of one’s actions. There are no spicy elements.
Q3. Is We Were Liars a horror?
Ans. There are elements of the supernatural, but We Were Liars isn’t horror.
Q4. What is the main message of We Were Liars?
Ans. The main message of We Were Liars is the aftermath of mindless action and the superficiality of materialism.
Q5. Can a 14-year-old read that we were liars?
Ans. Yes, a 14-year-old can read We Were Liars.
Q6. Is We Were Liars a tragedy?
Ans. Yes. The central theme of We Were Liars is tragedy.
We Were Liars Quotes
Conclusion
This was the We Were Liars Summary. Conclusively, We Were Liars is a spell-binding book with a twisted narrative. It’s a perfect example of the shallowness of materialism. This book will shake your perspective on life. It has angst, drama, love, and realism. This is the perfect book for contemplation and introspection.
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