Tag: E Lockhart

Genuine Fraud by E Lockhart

Like Lockhart’s earlier work, Genuine Fraud explore themes of privilege, truth and lies.

In an author’s note, E Lockhart lists her sources of inspiration for Genuine Fraud.  They include Victorian orphan stories, con artist tales and narratives of class mobility. She talks about stories told backwards and tales of female ambition. Much of this filters through into Genuine Fraud, the story of Jule West-Williams, a young con woman who exploits friendships for personal gain.

Jule is rather like the orphans in Dickens who engage in crime out of necessity. She sees herself as an action hero, physically and mentally strong yet she’s also vulnerable, living on her wits and in constant danger of being uncovered as a fraud.

Like Lockhart’s earlier novel, We Were Liars, Genuine Fraud explores themes of privilege, truth and lies. It’s a story of good and evil, privilege and want, elite and envy. It’s dark and twisty — a tale of self-invention and self-deception. It’s a fast and engaging read.

Jule spends a lot of time worrying about her origin story. She struggles between what she tells herself and what she tells others. Is she disturbed or is she simply dangerous? That’s the question you’ll ask yourself if you decide to read Genuine Fraud.

Disclosure: The publisher provided a review copy via Netgalley.

We Were Liars — a young adult title with wide appeal

Usually young adult fiction wouldn’t cross my radar. However, I stumbled upon E Lockhart’s haunting mystery We Were Liars in Time magazine’s Best Books of 2014. So, because I love books set off the coast of Massachusetts, I decided to give it a go.

We Were Liars is a coming of age story. It’s about a group of wealthy children who holiday each year on their grandfather’s private island. They enjoy idyllic long summer days in beautiful houses close to the water.

Troubled heroine

The story is narrated by a troubled teenage heroine. Cadence Sinclair’s memory was damaged during a trauma on a previous summer holiday. It’s  an incident that no one is willing to talk about.

Like all families, however, the Sinclairs have their secrets and jealousies. While they hide them behind an apparently perfect facade, the reader senses tension. The children’s mothers are manipulated by their powerful and wealthy father. Lockhart underlines the age-old universality of these tensions in a series of references to similar themes in folklore.

Place and atmosphere — mystery and myth — lies and truth — are more important than character in this short novel which runs to just 240 pages. The Kindle edition of We Were Liars was a steal at $1.68 when I purchased it a couple of days ago. I loved E Lockhart’s writing and while the story may fade over time, hers is a name that will remain on my radar from now on.