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It won't be long before We Were Liars season 2 hits Prime Video, but you can return to the world of E. Lockhart's mystery today, thanks to her brand new book We Fell Apart. "If you have read We Were Liars and Family of Liars, you will also find out a lot of Sinclair family secrets," E. tells Brit + Co of the new book. "Near the start of the book, Matilda and three super cute boys take a boat at night over to Beechwood Island across the water, where there has been a very recent tragedy, and they get up to some trespassing."
And even though we're returning to the world of Beechwood, there are still plenty of surprises to be had. "It's a story of a young woman named Matilda who flies across the nation to this property on Martha's Vineyard called Hidden Beach, and she's there to meet the father that she's never met, and it's a sort of big decrepit beachside castle," she continues. "Living in that castle are three super cute teenage boys, one of whom is her half-brother, and she ends up staying for the whole summer."
Keep reading to hear what E. Lockhart has to say about We Fell Apart, We Were Liars season 2, and Genuine Fraud With Rain Spencer.
E. Lockhart wrote the new novel during production on We Were Liars season 1, but the inspiration came earlier. "I started We Fell Apart when I was visiting the island of Martha's Vineyard and I got an invitation to visit the summer home of the late famous brutalist architect Araldo Cossutta. And this property was just amazing and it was almost like a castle and it was also falling apart. And I felt like I was walking right into a novel."
"So I went home and I started writing and I was very excited," she says. "But at the same time I was also working on We Were Liars season 1, the TV show, and so bit by bit, the world of We Were Liars kind of seeped into the novel and by the time I was done, I realized that I had fully written another novel in the We Were Liars universe."
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And the story isn't the only aspect of her hit novel that affected We Fell Apart. Production on the show also meant E. Lockhart's writing schedule changed consistently.
"I didn't have the luxury of always sitting in my office and and writing at a special time of day with a candle and an espresso," she says. "I was writing on planes. I was writing in Video Village on the set of We Were Liars. I was writing, you know, first thing in the morning just for an hour before I had to go about doing other stuff. So I've learned to just really squeeze it in to the rest of my life and that's the only way I ever get a novel written."
As far as E. Lockhart's best advice for aspiring writers? "Honestly just write some stupid thing. It is fine," she says. "All my stuff is terrible when I first write it, and I've just had to like let go of the idea that I'm going to write the Great American Novel, let go of the idea that I'm even gonna write a halfway decent anything. I'm just writing. If I have written, it's been a good day and I can always fix it later."
Amazon
We Fell Apart, which released on November 4, isn't the only expansion of E. Lockhart's universe. We Were Liars season 2 will be here before you know it, and it'll feature details from Family of Liars, as well as some new plot points. "Well, the thing everybody wants to know is, will Johnny be back? And yes, he will," E. reveals. "We Were Liars season 2 is definitely incorporating the story in my We Were Liars prequel novel Family of Liars, but it will also have all kinds of new surprises that the show runners have up their sleeves. And there will still be a contemporary story [with] Cadence, Johnny, and all of those amazing actresses playing Penny, Bess, and Carrie."
And considering the cast had such a good time filming season 1 of the Prime Video show, they're sure to make plenty of new memories. E. Lockhart distinctly remembers filming the heartbreaking final episode — mainly, the fact the four Liars had such a great time.
"Near the end of this shoot on We Were Liars, we had a lot of night shoots. I think we had 8 or 9 days straight of working all night for that final episode," she says. "All 4 of these kids are, you know, in the freezing cold wearing, you know, just little tiny outfits basically, and they were such incredible troopers and they really work together to keep each other's spirits up and then they would be bouncing around wearing parkas and laughing and goofing off and then they would take off their parkas, go in front of the cameras and weep. And it was just really incredible to see that craft up close."
Prime Video
But the We Were Liars cast aren't the only actors E. Lockhart is gearing up to work with. An adaptation of her book Genuine Fraud is on the horizon, with The Summer I Turned Pretty star Rain Spencer attached to star.
"Genuine Fraud is a novel of mine about two young women who look enough alike to share a passport. It is a con artist novel. It's got a little more action than We Were Liars, but it's also got a bunch of super beachy settings and it's pretty murder-y," E. tells us. "So Rain Spencer is attached to play the character of Jewel, and it is in development at Amazon, and our showrunner is Sinead Daley, who is also the showrunner for Stephanie Meyer's Midnight Sun."
And we can't wait to see it come to life!
Here are 7 Perfectly Dramatic Shows To Fill The We Were Liars Void — and make sure you subscribe to our Weekend Watch email newsletter for the latest TV news.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
