The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

E. Lockhart pens narratives with complex, young heroines who often challenge social norms as they explore the world around them and try to understand their place in it. These protagonists often witness or experience the tension created by various types of societal privilege.

Lockhart’s 2014 novel We Were Liars tells the story of Cadence Sinclair, a girl from an affluent family. Her extended family spends their summers on a private island, where they are usually joined by her aunt’s boyfriend and his nephew, Gat. Cadence notices that her grandfather dislikes Gat and his father because they are South Asian. When the novel opens, Cadence is recovering from a head injury that caused amnesia. Two years after the accident, she returns to the island for the summer and discovers that her grandfather’s Victorian home is being rebuilt, though she doesn’t know why. Through her fragmented memories, readers discover that Gat, Cadence, and her two cousins set the house on fire to rebel against the family’s toxic, divisive privilege. The other three died in the fire, and Cadence continues to live with her guilt.

While We Were Liars critiques racial and economic privilege, many of Lockhart’s novels examine the complexities of high school social life.