We Were Liars

E. Lockhart

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2014

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Part 1, Chapters 1-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1:“Welcome”

Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary

Cady introduces us to her family, the Sinclairs, who are "athletic, tall, and handsome" (3). She describes them as people who, despite the fact that things are going very wrong, pretend otherwise. Divorces may shred families and trust funds may disappear, but the Sinclairs still pretend to have no problems and to be "normal." As Cady puts it, "We are Sinclairs. No one is needy. No one is wrong" (3).

Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary

Cady describes herself as someone who "used to be strong, but now [she is] weak" (4). She likes to play with words. She says she "suffers" from migraines, but does not "suffer fools" (4). We learn that her father left her mother suddenly and moved away. Despite the pain of the family break-up, Cady's mother tells her she must appear "normal." She tells Cady, "Don't cause a scene" (6).

Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary

Cady describes the Sinclair family in more detail. They are rich and famous, and the daughters (Cady's mother and her aunts) have been groomed for success. They are "sunburnt and blessed" (6). Cady calls them "princesses in a fairy tale" (7). Granddad and Tipper have trouble deciding which they love best, an issue that will bedevil the family later, as the sisters compete for the family property. They each get a house on Beechwood Island. Cady is heiress to the family fortune because she is eldest of the sisters' children.

Part 1, Chapters 1-3 Analysis

These chapters introduce the Sinclair family through the eyes of Cady, the eldest daughter in the family and the narrator of the story. The Sinclairs are a wealthy New England family. They distill a particular upper-class WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) not uncommon in the greater Boston area. The family ethic is severe and unforgiving. The Sinclairs are tall and blonde; they pretend things are normal, even when things are very wrong; that is, they emphasize good appearances. The demand for normality forces the Sinclairs to conceal feelings they should openly discuss. This repression or concealment leads to resentments and ultimately to explosions of anger that will damage relations and even led to disaster.

Cady is an atypical Sinclair because she is aware of the family's foibles. She has a hard time pretending to be normal. Instead, she notices abnormalities. Her own father leaves her mother suddenly, and such disasters are hard for her to wish away or to conceal behind an appearance of normality. Her oblique vision of the family allows Cady to see things others are ignoring or avoiding.

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The Sinclairs appear to live a fairy tale life with lots of property and financial wealth. Fairy tales appear throughout the novel; these speak to different, possible variations of the Sinclair family story. The three daughters are described as princesses, and each gets a house on the family's island, Beechwood. But there are already signs that property will be a source of dissension in the family. The parents—Tipper and Harris—have trouble deciding which of the daughters they prefer the most. One thing is certain: Cady is the eldest of the grandchildren, and so she is the heiress. But wealth can also be a burden, and one senses already at this point in the story that it will tear the family apart.