We Were Liars

We Were Liars

YA fiction
Under normal circumstances I don't read fiction featuring rich
and privileged families. When I'm under the weather, employing my old
school remedy of bed rest and fluids, I'm surprised by what books
circumvent my usual biases. Yesterday, felled by a miserable virus, I
curled up with Joey cat and e. lockhart's We Were Liars. I am
profoundly glad I did.
Cadence, lockhart's protagonist, is a member of the Sinclair
clan, "a beautiful and distinguished family". It's a family that, if
they existed in real life, most of us would never get near unless we
worked as their hired help. They look enviably perfect in the public
eye because they keep their secrets well. Divorce, desertation, and
even death are not to elicit grief. Youngsters are told to be
"normal" and, no matter what happens, show up where they're supposed
to with smiles on their faces. "It doesn't matter if divorce shreds
the muscles of our hearts so they will hardly beat without a
struggle. It doesn't matter if trust-fund money is running out; if
credit card bills go unpaid on the kitchen table. It doesn't matter
if there's a cluster of pill bottles on the bedside table."
The Sinclair clan even has their own island where they spend
their summers. Patriarch Harris Sinclair has had cottages erected for
his three daughters and their families in addition to his own oppulant
retreat. To Cadence it has seemed to be an enchanted escape from the
everyday world, a chance for reinvention, a space apart to be a part
of the Liars, a quartet of same age cousins and a friend with whom she
is in love.
Her summer 17 things are different. Cadence had spent summer 16
on a forced tour of Europe with her estranged father. The summer
before that some kind of accident had prematurely ended her time on
Beechwood Island--a traumatic event that had left her with serious
memory loss and severe frequent migraines. The family remembers what
she can't. They have been told by doctors to let her recover memories
on her own. She has four weeks--less actually since the only meds
that render her headaches tolerable take out chunks of time. As
familiar loved places prompt recall and the drastically different
behaviors of family members proved puzzling, Cadence is on a rapidly
accelerating path to reexperiencing an event of true evil and tragedy.
We Were Liars drew me out of a day of viral misery into an
enchanted created fictional realm. If it could do that, imagine where
it could take you. Read it for the sheer pleasure of a well written
story.
On a personal note, after a day of rest, I was healed up enough to get
out and run errands in the fresh air and sunshine. I was delighted
when my every other month op ed page came out in the Bangor Daily News
and enjoyed all the compliments I got.
A great big shout out goes out to the Bangor Daily News readership.
Julia Emily Hathaway



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