E. Lockhart Details Newest Novel, ‘We Fell Apart’: ‘I Was Deeper In That Universe Than I Had Ever Been’ (EXCLUSIVE)
'Woman’s World' sat down with the 'We Were Liars' author to discuss her success, new novel and another TV adaptation on the way
E. Lockhart has been creating mysterious, thought-provoking worlds for her readers to delve into for nearly two decades, and now she is expanding on one of those fan-favorite creations. We Were Liars was a massive success when it was released in 2014, landing on the New York Times Bestseller list and experiencing a resurgence of popularity in 2021 thanks to BookTok.
Now, in 2025, the story is back in the zeitgeist after the premiere of the TV adaptation on Prime Video, with a second season on the way and two more books to enjoy. Lockhart is on the verge of releasing her third novel set in that universe, We Fell Apart, which will bring you right back to the world you fell in love with, whether 11 years ago or earlier this summer.
Woman’s World had the opportunity to sit down with E. Lockhart to discuss her new novel, the global success of We Were Liars, the announcement of her second TV adaptation, Genuine Fraud, and why she loves exploring the minds of her characters.
Woman’s World: Can you give our readers a synopsis of your new book, We Fell Apart, and explain how it connects to the previous We Were Liars and Family of Liars?
Lockhart: We Fell Apart is in the We Were Liars universe, but it is a standalone novel, as well. It has a new cast of characters, but for people who have seen the We Were Liars TV show or read that book, it intersects in places. Readers will get new Sinclair family secrets and a new sense of how the Sinclair family fits into a larger world that I’m building.
We Fell Apart is a story of a young woman named Matilda, who, when she’s about 18 and freshly out of high school, gets an email from a father that she’s never met. He is a famous painter named Kingsley Cello, and he invites her to come visit him on the island of Martha’s Vineyard at his big beachside property. She shows up in search of the family she has never really had and he’s not even there. Instead, she finds a witchy, eccentric stepmother, a half-brother that she’s never known, who’s her same age and two other teenage boys who are living there for one reason and another.
So, Matilda ends up getting sucked into the world that these three boys have built for themselves and spends the summer on this beautiful but run-down estate where there are lots of secrets and everybody is lying to her, and she’s trying to uncover the mysteries of where her father is and what everybody is hiding. Across the water is a private island called Beechwood Island, which is the center of the story of We Were Liars, so the four teenagers get on a boat in the middle of the night, and they go trespassing on this island where there has been a tragedy recently. So, it’s kind of a ghoulish visit as they go exploring the island. It’s a very intense, summer friendship by the sea, with mystery, a love story and fairy tale elements.
WW: What inspired you to introduce a new group of liars?
Lockhart: We Were Liars got made into a TV show that launched in June 2025 on Prime Video, and I got to be a part of the team that made it. I wrote the finale and worked as an executive producer on the show. I spent, like, 10 weeks on set, working in pre- and post-production, and so I was really thrown physically back into the universe of We Were Liars.
I had an idea to write a novel about a girl who comes to a big, mysterious mansion in search of a father that she’s never met. And as I was back in that world, it became the most natural thing to make this a We Were Liars universe novel. The connection just started happening organically. I guess I hadn’t left the universe—in fact, I was deeper in that universe than I had ever been before.
WW: Tell me a little bit about your writing process. You’ve been an author for about 20 years, so what are your best practices when sitting down to write a book?
Lockhart: Different books go different ways, but with We Fell Apart, I knew my setting. I went on a trip to Martha’s Vineyard, and had visited this incredible property that was built as the summer home of a famous brutalist architect named Araldo Cossutta. And Cossutta’s house is brutalist in the sense that it prioritizes the material from which it’s made, which is wood, and it’s also very imposing. It actually looks like a castle with four towers and it’s on a huge amount of property with all these outbuildings, which were in disrepair when I visited, and it looked like there had been squatters there. There was a big circular swimming pool that was filled with, like, sludge of leaves and algae. I asked the owner if I could take pictures, because I felt like I was walking through a novel, and it was a novel, maybe that I would write.
I went home and immediately began thinking about what kind of story I could put into this setting. I realized that I wanted to write a story that was in conversation with some wonderful Gothic, mysterious house books that I had read over the years, including Jane Eyre, We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson, Iris Murdoch’s The Good Apprentice and Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle. So, I had a story architecture and a set of themes coming from my own preoccupations and also from these books that I wanted to be in conversation with. And that’s kind of how I started. I touched base with those books, thought about what I loved about them, what elements I wanted to use, what tools those writers were using that made me love those books so much and reread them more than once. So, in that case, I really started with references and built my own story from there.
WW: You often write suspense and psychological thrillers. What drew you to the genre and why do you feel that readers are so drawn to it?
Lockhart: I think all my books for young adults are about the inside of one person’s head. I’m interested in character. I’m interested in what makes people tick, and when I started writing for young adults, I mostly wrote comedies, but they could still be described that way—the inside of one person’s head.
When I wrote We Were Liars, the first suspense novel that I had written, I felt ready to stretch my wings and try something different. I had thought of a story idea that was not a comedy, so I leaned into what did well, which was to really think about a character’s psychology and the way their minds run on certain topics over and over again, or even the way their minds play tricks on them.
I write very often about mental health and about storytelling, and the kinds of stories that we tell ourselves to explain ourselves to ourselves. So, suddenly writing a psychological thriller was not so far from what I had been doing as a comedy writer.
WW: Going back to the beginning, before you became an author, did you grow up as a big reader?
Lockhart: Very big reader growing up, but the books that I fell in love with as a teenager were really books that were very voicey. I fell in love with The Color Purple by Alice Walker and A Clockwork Orange and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. And what those three totally different books share is that they have really strong and unique voices. You feel like no other author could have written those books, and I found that very electrifying.
WW: Did you always know that you wanted to write a book or was that just something that came later?
Lockhart: Well, like starting at about age eight.
WW: What has it been like for you to see your novel adapted into a TV show? How has that process been?
Lockhart: The biggest experience of it was being on set. I had not spent time on a TV set before, and I went for three weeks at the beginning of production, just to observe and to get my bearings. And then when they were filming my episode, and the episode right before mine, I was like a writer on set. [I was thinking], “We’re in a universe that used to exist only in my head, and actors are walking by in costume as characters that used to exist only in my head.”
WW: What was it like experiencing the massive success of the series and seeing people talk about your characters and the world you built?
Lockhart: The path to mental health is not reading everything people write about you on the internet and watching viewer reactions. So, I kind of registered that it was number one globally and then I was, like, “All right, that is all I need to know. I am far beyond my wildest dreams, hooray.” And then I went about my business. I had a book to write.
Of course, it was very fun to go to the premiere. That was a joy. I love pretty clothes. I love beautiful actors and watching them be interviewed and walk the red carpet. And the premiere was in New York City, which was nice for me, because I’m New York-based, so I could bring friends and family to the party, and I was able to celebrate the launch of the show with the people that I love.
WW: Now the show is getting a Season 2—without spoiling too much, can fans expect it to be similar to the books, or will it deviate from that?
Lockhart: There’s a lot that I don’t know or that I can’t say, but the story of Family of Liars is definitely part of next season, but there’s also a lot more to it than that. And Cadence and Johnny will both be back.
WW: We Were Liars was published in 2014, but it had a huge revival in 2020 because of TikTok. What was that like to see your book back in the zeitgeist after so many years?
Lockhart: When We Were Liars had that new surge of popularity in 2020, people had a really big emotional response to it. I think that readers, then and now, are really hungry for a big emotional investment and an emotional experience. Because your phone will make you laugh, and it will show you adorable kitties but it’s not going to give you eight hours of investment in a character and their story. That’s what a TV show will do, and that’s what a novel will do, and I think as we get used to so much entertainment on our phones, there’s still kinds of narrative experiences that require a longer form. People are especially hungry for that intense drama, where the eight-hour investment pays off in something that feels cathartic.
WW: It was recently announced that you have another show on the horizon, Genuine Fraud. What is it like to have a second novel of yours adapted into a TV show?
Lockhart: Genuine Fraud is a thriller. A lot of it takes place on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, so it has that beachy element, but it’s a little more action-packed. It’s a con artist story and it’s also a really intense friendship story, which is one of my favorite things to write, and it is in development at Prime Video with Rain Spencer attached to star. I’ve never done anything where an actor was attached early on, and I think that having Rain to write for will be a really interesting part of the journey. This character is also a chameleon. She loves her clothes, she changes her wigs, how she dresses, her accent and I think that’s a very juicy part for an actor who is ready to show people what she can do.
WW: I want to go back to what you said about it having that same beachy feel that We Were Liars has. Is there a particular reason you like to set your stories in these kinds of places?
Lockhart: Well, I think I returned to the island of Martha’s Vineyard partly because I’ve spent a lot of summers there and I write best when it’s about a place that I’ve been to. So, Genuine Fraud hops around: There’s parts in London, in New York, in San Francisco, but there is a big section where they’re in a rental house overlooking the water on Martha’s Vineyard. I just do a better job when I can really convey a strong sense of place. But also, frankly, my readers want to go back to Martha’s Vineyard. Those who read We Were Liars, they want to return, and I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t enjoy it myself. I think a beachy setting that goes dark is really good.
WW: Are you working on anything new right now, or do you have plans for the next book?
E. Lockhart: I’m doing a bit of screenwriting that I can’t really say much more about, and I have a new book that will be coming out in about a year.
Conversation
All comments are subject to our Community Guidelines. Woman's World does not endorse the opinions and views shared by our readers in our comment sections. Our comments section is a place where readers can engage in healthy, productive, lively, and respectful discussions. Offensive language, hate speech, personal attacks, and/or defamatory statements are not permitted. Advertising or spam is also prohibited.
