Bess takes Carrie to the dock, where she sees Pfeff’s dead body. Carrie tries to confront Pfeff about his behavior and to make him see how hurtful his actions are, but he tells Carrie that their relationship was only a meaningless summer fling.ĭevastated at Pfeff’s dismissal and Penny’s betrayal, Carrie goes to her bedroom only to have Bess wake her up at one in the morning. Carrie views this as an ultimate betrayal by Penny and further evidence that she does not belong in her family. Carrie believes that Rosemary has returned to complete some unfinished business.Ĭarrie’s summer takes a turn when she discovers Pfeff and her sister Penny kissing. Carrie takes it upon herself to try and help her sister’s soul find rest, especially after Rosemary reveals that she tried to appear to their mother, who told her to leave. Carrie falls quickly for Pfeff and goes along with his coercion for a time while trying to ignore his tendency to only think about himself and what he wants at the moment, especially regarding sex.įurther complicating Carrie’s summer is her sister Rosemary’s return to the island as a ghost. The two begin a tumultuous relationship as Pfeff kisses Carrie one night during a family scavenger hunt. Carrie finds herself attracted to one of them, Lawrence “Pfeff” Pfefferman. Carrie and her family welcome their father’s brother, Dean his two children, Yardley and Tomkin Yardley’s boyfriend, George and two other friends. This summer is also different because it brings guests to the island. Carrie will hold this knowledge inside, growing increasingly worried about her precarious place in her family and viewing everything as evidence of her inadequacy. Carrie’s feelings are confirmed when she finds an old photograph in her mother’s jewelry drawer and learns that her father is not Harris Sinclair but an old boyfriend of her mother’s, Buddy Kopelnick. Carrie often feels she does not belong in her family because of her appearance.

Carrie is also struggling with a worsening codeine addiction after her parents all but forced her to get intensive surgery to correct her weak jaw. While Carrie mourns her sister, she feels that her parents and sisters, Penny and Bess, do not think about Rosemary at all, preferring to move on with life. This summer is the first one since Carrie’s youngest sister, Rosemary, died by drowning off Beechwood. Even though Carrie’s teenage years are painful to recall, she begins to tell Johnny the story of her 17th summer: the summer she first saw a ghost and kissed a boy. She explains that Johnny has visited her each night since his death asking for stories about her youth. Protagonist Carrie Sinclair sits in her house on her family’s private island, Beechwood Island, talking to the ghost of her dead son, Johnny.

We were liars and family of liars