In E. Lockhart’s “We Were Liars,” a girl born into a rich family experiences the last summer of her innocence*.

    Cadence Sinclair Easton comes from an old-money family, headed by a patriarch* who owns a private island off the coast of Massachusetts.

    Each summer, the family gathers* at the various houses on the island, and Cadence, her cousins Johnny and Mirren, and friend Gat (the four “Liars”), have been inseparable* since age 8. During their 15th summer, however, Cadence suffers a mysterious* accident. After her accident, she was found washed up on shore* with no memory of what happened.

    She spends the next two years — and the course of the book — in a haze of amnesia*, migraines*, and painkillers*, trying to remember just what happened.

    The same night of her accident, her grandfather’s house on the island burned down, which has now been rebuilt.

    Cadence is coming back this summer, recovering. The problem is the island is haunted* by something deeper and darker than just the burning of a house and a lifetime of memories.

    The story, while touching on issues of class and race, more fully focuses on dysfunctional* family drama, a romance between Cadence and Gat, and the suspense* of what happened two years ago. (SD-Agencies)