Curated set · answers marked
What does Cadence find out about what happened on Beechwood Island during the summer she turned fifteen?
Rationale
The key revelation of the novel is that Cadence and her cousins (the Liars) deliberately set fire to Clairmont to protest against the Sinclair family's materialism and cruelty. Gat, Mirren, and Johnny died in the blaze, while Cadence survived but experienced amnesia, gradually uncovering the traumatic truth as the story unfolds.
What does Cadence find out about the events on the island during the summer when she lost her memory?
Rationale
As Cadence pieces together her memory, she discovers that she and her cousins Mirren, Johnny, and her friend Gat burned down Clairmont in a rebellious act against their family's greed and dysfunction. Tragically, Mirren, Johnny, and Gat died in the fire, and the "Liars" Cadence has been with throughout the story turn out to be ghosts.
In E. Lockhart's We Were Liars, what shocking truth does Cadence gradually remember by the end of the novel?
Rationale
The main twist of the novel reveals that Cadence's amnesia has been hiding the traumatic memory of the night she and her cousins (the Liars) burned down Clairmont in protest of their grandparents' unfair wealth distribution. Mirren, Johnny, and Gat died in the fire, and the "Liars" Cadence has been spending the summer with are actually their ghosts.