Q&A: E. Lockhart, Author of ‘We Fell Apart’

We chat with #1 New York Times bestselling author E. Lockhart about We Fell Apart, which is the return to the world of her TikTok sensation We Were Liars with all her signature beachy gothic atmosphere, family intrigue, and high-stakes romance.

Hi, Emily! Welcome back! It’s been four years since we last spoke for the release of Whistle. How have you been and what have you been up to?

Nice to be back! I just finished a very fun UK tour, and a highlight was the thriller panel at the YALC festival.  I spent a good part of my time working on the TV show of my book, We Were Liars (you can watch it now on Prime Video!) and I wrote We Fell Apart, book 3 in the We Were Liars universe. The rest is a blur.  I drank a lot of coffee.

We Fell Apart is the latest instalment in your We Were Liars series and it’s out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Beachy gothic enemies to lovers.

For those who haven’t picked up We Were Liars, what can readers expect?

Amnesia, a private island, intense summer friendships, a family full of secrets, a love story with terrible obstacles.

And for those who have, what’s to come in We Fell Apart?

It’s a new cast and a new kingdom, so to speak — the estate of a famous and reclusive painter who lives across the water from Beechwood Island (which is the setting for We Were Liars and Family of Liars.)  Eighteen-year-old Matilda comes to the estate to get to know the father she’s never met but instead finds herself swept into the world of the three teenage boys who live there, and all of them are lying to her.  There are lots of threads connecting We Fell Apart to We Were Liars and Family of Liars, but We Fell Apart is its own story.

Where did the inspiration for this new instalment come from?

I visited a beautiful, strange property on the island of Martha’s Vineyard that really sparked my imagination.  I began creating a story about it right away.

Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

I loved writing the friendship between Matilda and the three boys — Brock, Meer and Tatum. My favorite scenes where when they were all four adventuring together — trespassing on Beechwood Island, digging clams, drawing on each other with Sharpie, cooking hangover breakfasts.

Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?

Plotting a twisty thriller is always a big challenge for me. And it turns out plotting a satisfying romance is just as hard!  My first two books in this universe have love stories that don’t end happily, and for We Fell Apart I wanted the love story to be a line of sunshine that runs through the mystery of it all.

This year also saw the television adaptation of We Were Liars hit Prime Video! What was it like seeing your book to come to life 10 years after publishing?

It was completely surreal.  I was an executive producer on the show and worked a lot on casting. I wrote the finale. I spent ten weeks on set and then gave notes on episodes – and I learned a ton about making television from our showrunners, Carina Adly MacKenzie and Julie Plec. They have made so much popular, bingeable TV — they have a deep understanding of the form.

What’s next for you?

I have been writing for the screen a bit more (though there’s nothing I can share, yet!) and finishing The Pools, a standalone gothic love story that will come out in late 2026.

Lastly, what books have you enjoyed reading this year? Are there any you’re looking forward to picking up in 2026?

I’m in the middle of Megan Abbott’s El Dorado Drive – she’s a brilliant literary thriller writer and her worlds are always admirably rich. I’m psyched about Tiffany D. Jackson’s The Scammer. That’s next on my TBR. She is a plot twist queen and also has so much emotional depth.

Will you be picking up We Fell Apart? Tell us in the comments below!