Rearranging the middle around the twist
Lockhart wrote with the ending in mind the entire time, but heavily rearranged the three middle sections of the five-act structure so the twists would draw readers deeper into the story.
E. Lockhart
American
Born 1967
Emily Jenkins, who sometimes uses the pen name E. Lockhart, is an American writer of children's picture books, young adult novels, and adult fiction. She is best known for the novels The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks and We Were Liars; the later was adapted into a television series in 2025.
On LuvemBooks, we've reviewed We Were Liars.
1
Books ReviewedIn E. Lockhart's own words
E. Lockhart discusses the inspiration, characters, and themes of her novel We Were Liars.
Uploaded by Amazon Books, 2014 · Watch on YouTube ·
Also in this interview
E. Lockhart books in order
12 books, 2 series; 1 reviewed on LuvemBooks. Dates and covers from Amazon.
Ruby Oliver3 books
We Were Liars2 books
#12014Our review →
2025We Fell ApartAmazon ↗
Ask LuvemBooks about E. Lockhart
E. Lockhart has one book reviewed on LuvemBooks: We Were Liars, a young adult novel built around an unreliable narrator and a slow-burn mystery that reframes everything the reader thought they understood. Lockhart writes in a spare, deliberately fragmented prose style — short chapters, clipped sentences — that serves her themes of memory, privilege, and family myth-making.
- Where should I start?
- We Were Liars is the natural starting point — it is the book Lockhart is most widely read for, and it works as a standalone novel with no prior knowledge of her other work required. Its tightly controlled structure and unreliable narration make it a strong introduction to what distinguishes her writing: the way she withholds and then recontextualises information. With a reader rating of 4.2 out of 5 from over 80,000 Amazon ratings, it has a broad and enthusiastic readership behind it.
- What's their writing style?
- Lockhart writes in a fragmented, highly controlled prose style — short chapters, incomplete sentences, and a lyrical rhythm that can feel closer to poetry than conventional YA fiction. She uses an unreliable first-person narrator to great effect in We Were Liars, parcelling out information in a way that makes the structure itself part of the story's meaning. Her subject matter tends to circle around privilege, family mythology, and the gap between how people present themselves and what they are actually doing.
- Books we've reviewed
- LuvemBooks has reviewed one book by E. Lockhart: We Were Liars, a young adult psychological novel with an unreliable narrator, a wealthy family's crumbling mythology, and a structural twist that reframes the entire story — rated 4.2 out of 5 by over 80,000 Amazon readers.
- Why is We Were Liars trending?
- We Were Liars is currently trending because of an adaptation in progress, which has renewed interest in the source material and is bringing new readers to the novel ahead of or alongside the adaptation's release. This is a common pattern with well-regarded YA fiction — adaptations tend to surface the book for audiences who missed it the first time around.
- Is We Were Liars being adapted?
- Yes, We Were Liars is currently in adaptation, which is driving renewed interest in the novel. The book has long been considered a strong candidate for screen adaptation given its atmospheric setting — a private island off Martha's Vineyard — and its structurally distinctive narrative. Readers picking up the book now will be joining a fresh wave of interest in Lockhart's work.
- What genre do they write?
- E. Lockhart is primarily associated with young adult fiction, though Emily Jenkins — the same author — also writes children's picture books and has worked in adult fiction. We Were Liars, the book reviewed on LuvemBooks, sits firmly in the young adult category but with a literary sensibility and a psychological complexity that makes it readable well beyond its target age range. Readers who enjoy character-driven mysteries or literary YA tend to respond to her work well.
- What should I read after We Were Liars?
- If you enjoyed We Were Liars for its unreliable narrator and slow-burn structural twist, Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl or Donna Tartt's The Secret History are natural adult-facing next steps with similar DNA — privileged settings, hidden guilt, and narrators who cannot be fully trusted. Within YA, Karen McManus's One of Us Is Lying shares the mystery-driven ensemble structure. Lockhart's own companion novel, Family of Liars, returns to the Sinclair world and is worth considering if you want to stay with her voice specifically.
Who is E. Lockhart?
Where should I start?
What's their writing style?
Books we've reviewed
Why is We Were Liars trending?
Is We Were Liars being adapted?
What genre do they write?
What should I read after We Were Liars?
Who is E. Lockhart?
E. Lockhart is the pen name of Emily Jenkins, an American author who writes across picture books, young adult fiction, and adult novels. She is best known for We Were Liars, a psychological young adult novel that gained a wide readership for its twist-driven narrative and precise, unconventional prose style. Jenkins also publishes children's picture books under her real name, making her one of the more range-spanning authors working in American fiction today.
Follow up
What is her pen name used for?
Is E. Lockhart still writing?
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