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Content snapshot
Flag an inaccuracy →What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.
Violence
Some
A death and the violence of secrets; thriller-adjacent tension
Language
Barely any
Mild language
Sexual Content
Some
YA-adjacent romance; some mature content in a 1950s setting
Substance Use
Some
Teen and adult drinking in a wealthy summer-house setting
Emotional Intensity
Some
A family's capacity for denial and self-deception; the weight of secrets across generations; unreliable narration that unsettles the reader's footing
What this book is about
Set decades before We Were Liars, this prequel follows Carrie Sinclair — grandmother to the Liars — the summer she was seventeen. A mysterious stranger arrives on Beechwood Island, Carrie's three sisters each want something from him, and a tragedy unfolds that will echo through the family for generations. E. Lockhart's novel is written in her signature unreliable, hypnotic prose, circling a secret that the reader sees coming and cannot stop. A summer gothic about beautiful, terrible people doing beautiful, terrible things.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
teen drinking and adult substance use
a death as the central event
unreliable narration
Reader Verification
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