E. Lockhart’s We Fell Apart (2025) is a young adult psychological thriller set in the same universe as her best-selling novel, We Were Liars. The story follows 18-year-old Matilda Klein, who feels abandoned after her mother moves to Mexico with a new lover. When Matilda receives a surprise invitation from her estranged, world-famous artist father, Kingsley Cello, to visit his isolated estate on Martha’s Vineyard, she hopes to find the family connection she has always craved. Upon arriving at his castle-like home, however, she finds her father mysteriously absent and must navigate a household of secrets and new relationships with her half-brother and the other young residents. The novel explores themes including The Lasting Wounds of Parental Abandonment, The Dangers of Idolizing “Genius,” and The Creation of Identity Through Storytelling and Art.

E. Lockhart is a #1 New York Times best-selling author known for the Liars series, which includes We Were Liars (2014), Family of Liars (2022), and We Fell Apart. We Were Liars gained widespread popularity, becoming a TikTok sensation and inspiring a television series on Prime Video. Lockhart has also received numerous accolades for her other books, including a National Book Award finalist honor.    

This guide refers to the 2025 Delacorte Press edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of substance use, addiction, animal cruelty and death, mental illness, emotional abuse, illness, and death.

Plot Summary

Eighteen-year-old Matilda Avalon Klein lives in Venice Beach, California, with Saar Adler, a television actor and the most recent ex-boyfriend of her mother, Isadora. Isadora, who has spent her life as a muse to a series of artists, has just moved to Mexico City with a new lover, leaving Matilda to finish her senior year of high school. Feeling abandoned and isolated after a recent breakup with her boyfriend, Luca, which cost her her friend group, Matilda receives an unexpected email from Kingsley Cello, a world-famous and reclusive painter. He introduces himself as her father and invites her to his home, Hidden Beach, offering her a painting. Online research reveals Kingsley’s controversial reputation and the multi-million-dollar value of his art. Matilda also discovers a famous painting, Persephone Escapes the Underworld, which features a young Isadora. Isadora confirms Kingsley is Matilda’s father, recounting their brief, intense affair when she was 19 and he was 43. He ended the relationship, refused to support her pregnancy, and sold the Persephone painting for millions without compensating her. Despite Isadora’s warnings, Matilda accepts the invitation.

Saar, although concerned about Kingsley’s character, pays for Matilda’s flight to Martha’s Vineyard. After a nauseating journey, Matilda gets sick in the airport bathroom, where two girls her age, Holland Terhune and Winnie, help her. Holland notes that Matilda looks familiar and invites her to hang out. Matilda then hires a sullen taxi driver, a boy her age. During the ride, she overhears passengers discussing a recent fire on the private island of Beechwood that killed three teenagers from the wealthy Sinclair family. The driver drops her at a mailbox painted with a strawberry, and she walks down a long driveway to a large wooden castle on a cliff. She encounters and befriends Glum, the family’s massive Irish wolfhound.    

At the castle, a boy named Vermeer “Meer” Sugawara greets her. He explains that Kingsley is off-island but will return the next day. He then reveals he is Kingsley’s son and her half-brother, and that he has known about her his whole life. Meer introduces Matilda to his mother, June Sugawara, who is dyeing fabric with indigo and is initially annoyed by the unexpected guest. Her attitude softens when she learns Matilda is Kingsley’s daughter. Matilda also meets Paul-David Brock, a former child actor living at Hidden Beach. Overwhelmed by travel and the revelations, Matilda faints. When she wakes, she is shown to a room in one of the castle’s four towers. She discovers her phone and laptop have been taken from her bag, as the house is “unplugged.” She then overhears Brock and someone called Tatum discussing how her presence will disrupt things. Later, while exploring the messy house, she has a hostile encounter in the kitchen with Tatum, recognizing him as her rude taxi driver.

That night, Meer organizes a secret boat trip to the nearby island of Beechwood to see the site of the fire. They explore the charred ruins of the Sinclair family’s main house. The sight deeply upsets Tatum, who reveals to Matilda that his own parents died in a fiery car crash. Meer confesses he had an online friendship with Mirren Sheffield, one of the teens who died, and that he wanted to visit the ruin to feel connected to her and to his father’s dark, fiery imagination. The group finds the Sinclairs’ tennis court and plays a chaotic game, during which Matilda falls and badly scrapes her hands. Distressed, she wanders off alone. Tatum finds her and, in a moment of kindness, gives her his sweater.

Life at Hidden Beach continues without Kingsley. Matilda listens to a podcast in which Kingsley discusses his painting Cliffside Gothic, which she saw in the breakfast nook, explaining it is about sibling rivalry and the “Cinderella” tale. June, claiming to be a former nurse, gives Matilda an injection for her scraped hands, which she calls an antibiotic. Matilda passes out and has a vivid dream of Kingsley standing over her bed, calling her “Melinoe.” Frustrated by Kingsley’s absence, Matilda decides to leave, but Meer begs her to stay. He shows her the painting she was promised, titled Lost, a powerful portrait of her on a raft in a stormy sea. Moved, she agrees to stay. Over the next days, she learns more about the household. Brock recounts his difficult childhood, struggles with addiction, and how Kingsley’s art inspired his recovery. June shows Matilda a painting of a young Tatum titled Selkie Child, explaining he was always a boy of the sea. Matilda and Tatum’s relationship begins to thaw. June, however, becomes increasingly withdrawn.

Holland Terhune appears at the castle, admitting she sought out Matilda because she noted her resemblance to the model for Persephone. When she sees Cliffside Gothic, she tearfully reveals it is a portrait of her mother and aunts, the Sinclair sisters. Later, Meer’s impulsive purchase of live poultry leads to a confrontation with Tatum. Matilda defends Meer, and in the heat of the argument, she kisses Tatum. He responds passionately before pulling away, saying he cannot. The next day, Glum gets into the pool house and kills all but one of the birds. A distraught Tatum confesses he had stopped feeding the dog to teach Meer responsibility. He and Matilda take the surviving duckling to a farm and share a tender, apologetic kiss. That evening, Matilda confronts June about her neglect of Meer. June breaks down, confessing that Matilda’s arrival has forced her to see her “liberated” life as a dependency on Kingsley, leaving her feeling powerless.

Tatum and Matilda go on a date to a concert. He is evasive when she questions his isolation from his old friends, saying only that June has her reasons for demanding such isolation. That night, Matilda, suspecting a deeper secret, breaks into the locked office. In Kingsley’s sketchbook, she finds a drawing of a piranha plant from a video game she had described to the boys, leading her to believe Meer is forging Kingsley’s art. She confronts Meer, who denies it. Determined to find the truth, Matilda then uses the keys to enter the locked Bone Tower. Inside Kingsley’s studio, she finds a new painting of herself asleep, titled Melinoe, Bringer of Madness. She realizes her “dream” was a real encounter and that Kingsley has been at Hidden Beach the entire time. On the top floor, she finds her father. He is suffering from severe dementia, locked in the room, and hooked to an IV.

Horrified, Matilda flees the castle, but Tatum stops her. He confesses everything: Kingsley’s dementia, his violent rages, and their decision to keep him locked in the tower for his own safety after he refused medical care. Matilda seeks refuge with Holland, who reveals that Kingsley Cello was born Kincaid Sinclair, and his estranged older brother is Harris Sinclair, the owner of Beechwood. Holland is Matilda and Meer’s cousin. Holland adds that Meer faked the initial emails from Kingsley to lure Matilda there. Matilda remembers a note Kingsley gave her for Meer; it is a cruel, hateful message. To protect her brother, she destroys it.

Matilda returns to Hidden Beach, determined to have a real connection with her father. She goes to the tower and, at his pleading, cuts his IV line. Kingsley turns on her, threatens her with scissors, and escapes, locking her in the studio. A frantic search ensues. June finds Kingsley drowned in the filthy swimming pool. Brock explains that June had found Kingsley in the office; when he became violent, she injected him with a sedative. He ran outside before the drug took full effect and stumbled into the pool. Overruling June, Matilda calls the police. The next day, Saar arrives from California, having grown worried by Matilda’s silence. After an emotional goodbye with Meer and Brock, Matilda, Tatum, and Glum leave Hidden Beach with Saar.

An epilogue reveals that Kingsley’s will leaves his entire estate to Meer. Meer provides for June and sets up trusts for Matilda and Tatum. June moves to a new town, while Meer and Brock move to Los Angeles. Matilda and Tatum attend college in Irvine, California. Matilda designs a video game based on her experiences.