Family of Liars

Family of Liars, published by Delacorte Press, is a 2022 novel by author E. Lockhart. This novel for young adults is the prequel to Lockhart’s We Were Liars, published in 2014. Family of Liars follows protagonist Caroline “Carrie” Sinclair’s experiences at her family’s private island, Beechwood, in the late 1980s. The summer Carrie turns 17, she struggles to navigate addiction, the loss of a sibling, and her place in her family. She also meets a young visitor to the island named Pfeff, whose presence shapes the course of Carrie’s life and shows her the darkness she is capable of. Family of Liars explores grief, the price of secrets, and the importance of confronting the ghosts of one’s past. This study guide refers to the 2022 Delacorte Press hardcover edition.

Plot Summary

Protagonist Carrie Sinclair sits in her house on her family’s private island, Beechwood Island, talking to the ghost of her dead son, Johnny. She explains that Johnny has visited her each night since his death asking for stories about her youth. Even though Carrie’s teenage years are painful to recall, she begins to tell Johnny the story of her 17th summer: the summer she first saw a ghost and kissed a boy.

This summer is the first one since Carrie’s youngest sister, Rosemary, died by drowning off Beechwood. While Carrie mourns her sister, she feels that her parents and sisters, Penny and Bess, do not think about Rosemary at all, preferring to move on with life. Carrie is also struggling with a worsening codeine addiction after her parents all but forced her to get intensive surgery to correct her weak jaw. Carrie often feels she does not belong in her family because of her appearance. Carrie’s feelings are confirmed when she finds an old photograph in her mother’s jewelry drawer and learns that her father is not Harris Sinclair but an old boyfriend of her mother’s, Buddy Kopelnick. Carrie will hold this knowledge inside, growing increasingly worried about her precarious place in her family and viewing everything as evidence of her inadequacy.

This summer is also different because it brings guests to the island. Carrie and her family welcome their father’s brother, Dean; his two children, Yardley and Tomkin; Yardley’s boyfriend, George; and two other friends. Carrie finds herself attracted to one of them, Lawrence “Pfeff” Pfefferman. The two begin a tumultuous relationship as Pfeff kisses Carrie one night during a family scavenger hunt. Carrie falls quickly for Pfeff and goes along with his coercion for a time while trying to ignore his tendency to only think about himself and what he wants at the moment, especially regarding sex.

Further complicating Carrie’s summer is her sister Rosemary’s return to the island as a ghost. Carrie takes it upon herself to try and help her sister’s soul find rest, especially after Rosemary reveals that she tried to appear to their mother, who told her to leave. Carrie believes that Rosemary has returned to complete some unfinished business.

Carrie’s summer takes a turn when she discovers Pfeff and her sister Penny kissing. Carrie views this as an ultimate betrayal by Penny and further evidence that she does not belong in her family. Carrie tries to confront Pfeff about his behavior and to make him see how hurtful his actions are, but he tells Carrie that their relationship was only a meaningless summer fling.

Devastated at Pfeff’s dismissal and Penny’s betrayal, Carrie goes to her bedroom only to have Bess wake her up at one in the morning. Bess takes Carrie to the dock, where she sees Pfeff’s dead body. Bess and Penny explain that Pfeff tried to rape Penny, but Bess intervened and used a loose board from the dock to hit Pfeff over the head, killing him.

Carrie jumps into protector mode and devises a plan for them to dispose of Pfeff’s body in the ocean. The three sisters take the motorboat to sea and throw Pfeff’s body overboard. Carrie tells them that after tonight they must never speak of this again and that they should pretend it never happened. The girls return to the island in the morning, having concocted a story about how they had gone out early that morning with Pfeff. They explain that Pfeff was drunk and went swimming, after which they never saw him again.

Carrie interrupts her story from the present to admit that she has not been entirely truthful. She tells Johnny the true story of what happened the night Pfeff died and that she murdered him after hearing him pleading with Penny for sex. Carrie admits that in her rage, she felt she could have killed Penny as well. Carrie explains that she still feels guilty about what this event showed her she is capable of. Carrie resumes her story after making this confession.

The police search for Pfeff’s body. Carrie panics when she sees that the murder weapon, the dock board, is missing. After a brief search, the police decide that Pfeff most likely died from a shark attack. Carrie feels that she can begin to move on from the ordeal until she sees Pfeff’s ghost on the beach where he died. Pfeff tells her that he came back to apologize for his actions, but he also expects an apology from Carrie. Carrie tells him she will not apologize to him and banishes his ghost from the island for good. Although she does not forgive him or apologize, in the future, Carrie decides that Pfeff was neither good nor bad, but simply a complicated human like all people are.

One night after dinner, Harris calls Carrie into his private office and tells her that, during a sleepless night, he discovered his daughters rowing out to sea at two in the morning. He explains that he went down to the dock and smelled bleach and a curious, sticky substance on the loose board. Connecting these dots, Harris disposed of the board, telling Carrie that his loyalty is to his daughters. He says he is sharing this with her because he knows that she knows about her true parentage and wants to show her that he considers her a Sinclair and always has.

Carrie continues to struggle with guilt. She goes to college but drops out for good after a second visit to a rehabilitation center the summer after her sophomore year. Throughout the subsequent summers, Rosemary continues to visit Carrie. The summer Carrie goes to rehab for a second time, Rosemary reveals her true reason for appearing to Carrie year after year. She tells Carrie that she is worried about her mental state and addiction. Carrie realizes she needs to stop numbing herself to the pain she has been carrying for years and promises Rosemary that she is done using drugs to dull her pain. She promises herself that she will begin to live again and experience her emotions and that even though she has done terrible things, she still deserves a future.

In the present, Carrie’s son Johnny admits that hearing this story was a lot for him, and he needs to rest, but he will visit her tomorrow. In the morning, Carrie calls her sisters, their children, her father, and her remaining son over to her house for breakfast, and they enjoy a quiet morning together. Carrie drinks tea with Penny and Bess on the front porch, knowing that things will not always be as they are now.