The largest and most important house on Beechwood Island, Clairmont represents—to the Liars, at least—the root of all the Sinclair family’s problems. After Tipper Sinclair dies, the Sinclair sisters spend most of their time on the island in Clairmont, arguing over their mother’s possessions as well as the wealth they will inherit when Harris dies. As the Liars—Gat, Cady, Mirren, and Johnny—rebel against the family’s growing obsession with wealth, they decide that the destruction of Clairmont could resolve all their problems. As it houses many of the family’s prized possessions and financial documents, they believe that they can reunite their damaged and splintered family by burning the house to the ground. The fire they start ends in tragedy, though, as Gat, Mirren, and Johnny end up trapped in the house and are killed. However, in some strange way, the Clairmont fire did eventually bring the Sinclair family together as they mourned the death of the three teens and helped Cady recover from shock. In the year following the fire, Harris builds New Clairmont, an austere building that represents a sharp turn away from the traditional and ostentatious home that had once been the family’s gathering space.
Clairmont Quotes in We Were Liars
“I started over with this house,” he says simply. “That old life is gone.”
Look. A fire. There on the southern tip of Beechwood Island. Where the maple tree stands over the wide lawn. The house is alight. The flames shoot high, brightening the sky.
Clairmont Symbol Timeline in We Were Liars
