Review
Cadence was the pretty, blonde, tennis-playing eldest grandchild of a very rich old money Kennedy-esque patriarch, whose three beautiful daughters and bunch of grandchildren all summer together every year on an island near Martha’s Vineyard. But a couple of years ago, the summer she was fifteen, she had an accident. She was found in the water with serious head trauma, and now she has migraines and takes too many pills. She’s thin. She’s dyed her hair black. She’s giving all her things away.
What happened that summer? She can’t remember, and the doctors have said that it’s better that she’s not told too much about it… that she recovers her memories organically. Going back now that she’s seventeen, she’s just happy to be with her cousins, Mirren and Johnny, and Gat, the boy she loves.
But slowly, she starts to remember. Kisses. Family fights. And — eventually — the dark truth.
*
Wow, this was quite interesting. Of course this book has been popular on TikTok for a while and has recently been made into a series on Amazon Prime, so might have a resurgence in popularity.
Sometimes when a book is BookTok popular, you wonder if it’s actually any good (have been burnt in the past). This is good.
It’s haunting and fable-like, like looking back through strange, sepia-toned glasses or through old-fashioned, thick distorted glass. Much of it is told through episodic flashbacks, framed by Cady’s accident and the mystery surrounding it. The writing often has a fragmented feel, with lots of very short paragraphs, occasionally with a very slight verse novel feel. There are italicised sections in which familiar-but-different fairy tales are told by Cady, adding to the other worldly feel, and echoing the surfacing tensions in the family. The first one is based on ‘As Meat Loves Salt’, which is also a basis for King Lear, and reflects the anxieties about money and inheritance in this privileged but troubled family.
Once upon a time there was a king who had three beautiful daughters.
As he grew old, he began to wonder which should inherit his kingdom, since none had married and he had no heir.
King Lear is one obvious source of intertextuality; Wuthering Heights is another one that is drawn to the reader’s attention — Gat is Indian-American, and his relationship with Cady is regarded with subconscious suspicion by the very white patriarch.
This might all make it sound difficult to read, but the language is simple and very accessible. I’m not surprised it’s been popular — it’s compelling, and the reveal certainly has impact. Not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, though.
Well written, haunting and compelling. Suitable for year 7 & up, but it’s tragic, so not advised for the sensitive. Would make a good related text for an average English Standard student – Texts & Human Experiences. Nice and short at 272 pp.
> Click here for content info — MAJOR SPOILERS, enter at own risk.
YA depictions of: family squabbles about money; emotional & financial manipulation; adult drunkenness; teen drunkenness; divorce; guilt; grief; racism; classism; mild teen infidelity; amnesia & psychosis caused by trauma and guilt; debilitating migraines; mild addiction to prescription pills; mention of “sexual intercourse” (the literal words – turns out to be made up); kissing; blink-and-you’d-miss-it reference to some “half-naked” shenanigans; grandmother dies of heart failure (not shown); grandfather develops dementia; arson; three teens and two pet dogs die in house fire (not graphically described but tragic) – largely/partly Cadence’s fault. Relationships are mlw. Some f-words and s-words.
*
Lockhart, E. (2014). We were liars. Allen & Unwin.
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