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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSCadence Sinclair Eastman is the eldest granddaughter of a wealthy Boston family that spends every summer on a private island off the coast of Massachusetts. At fifteen, her parents' marriage collapses and she arrives on Beechwood Island raw from that loss, falling deeper in love with Gat Patil, her cousin's best friend and the outsider in their tight circle of four, the Liars. That same summer something happens to Cadence late one July night, and she wakes in a hospital with burned hands, a fragmented memory, and migraine headaches so severe they upend the next two years of her life. When she finally returns to the island at seventeen, desperate to piece together what she cannot remember, she finds her Liars waiting for her, and all the Sinclair family's old tensions simmering just beneath the surface of another beautiful summer.
Free Battle of the Books questions for We Were Liars
SPOILERSEvery one of these has the same answer, and that is the point. In a real battle the question is read aloud with a dozen other books in play, and students have a few seconds to place it. Here is what a battle might ask about We Were Liars. Use them as a quiz, a trivia round, or BOTB practice.
Where in the book they come from
- Early in the book
In what book do a grandfather and grandmother name their three new island houses Windemere, Red Gate, and Cuddledown?
✓ Answer
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
Harris and Tipper Sinclair built one house for each of their three daughters, Penny, Carrie, and Bess. The names of the houses become shorthand for which branch of the family lives where.
- First half
In what book does a girl mourn a hundred-year-old magnolia tree that held a tire swing, now gone?
✓ Answer
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
When the grandfather rebuilt his house, the lawn and its huge magnolia, where the children's tire swing once hung, disappeared too. The loss overwhelms Cadence, and her mother whispers to her to breathe and sit up.
- First half
In what book does a grandfather threaten to sell the family's four-million-dollar Boston house to control his squabbling daughters?
✓ Answer
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
In a remembered dinner, Granddad dangles the cherished house in front of the aunts, knowing they all want it. His habit of using money and inheritance to pit them against each other poisons the family.
- Second half
In what book does a boy apologize for vanishing after a friend's accident, calling himself a thoughtless follower?
✓ Answer
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
Alone in the yard with his Legos, Johnny apologizes to Cadence and blames himself for vanishing after her injury. His honesty contrasts with the bigger secret the friends are keeping from her.
- Second half
In what book does a girl inscribe a gifted book with the words "with everything, everything"?
✓ Answer
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
Cadence echoes Gat's old inscription by writing the same words in a Diana Wynne Jones book she leaves on his pillow. The phrase becomes a token of their love passed back and forth.
- Near the end
In what book does a boy note that the grandfather always calls him "young man" instead of his actual name?
✓ Answer
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
On the tennis court, Gat tells Cadence that Harris cannot say his name or meet his eye because he is uncomfortable having a person of color in his family. It opens Cadence's eyes to the family's quiet racism.
