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Summary: Chapter 66
Cadence recalls that during a nighttime pantry raid at the old house, she and Gat overheard the three aunts quarreling bitterly. The conversation was mostly about their inheritance, and it makes Cadence realize how much the aunts depend on Granddad’s money. Carrie slapped Bess over a taunting comment about Ed and Gat being outsiders.
Summary: Chapter 67
Open conflict over Gat’s place in the family followed. When Carrie asked Gat to stay away from family meals for a while, the Liars all stopped coming. Cadence refused to break up with Gat as Penny demanded. The Liars took their revenge on the adults by secretly destroying Granddad’s statue collection.
Summary: Chapter 68
The Liars began thinking: what if God struck Granddad’s house and it went up in flames? Maybe the adults would repent and learn to love one another again.
Summary: Chapter 69
At a lunchtime confrontation, Penny threatened to leave with Cadence and never come back. Granddad responded by denouncing all three daughters for failing to uphold the family’s values and yet expecting him to support them financially.
Summary: Chapter 70
As Cadence shares these fresh memories with the other Liars, more of what happened comes out. After the showdown with Granddad, all the adults angrily left the island, taking the younger cousins with them.
Summary: Chapter 71
The Liars stayed on the island. Cadence remembers that after getting drunk, they burned Granddad’s house to the ground. She and Gat formed the plan and persuaded Johnny and Mirren to join in.
Summary: Chapter 72
The Liars used gasoline from the boat shed to set fires in all four levels of Grandad’s house, with Cadence handling the ground floor. Cadence is pleased to learn that their plan apparently worked since the adults get along better now. Mirren observes that the aunts are miserable and drink heavily. Gat ventures that Granddad built the unpleasant new house as self-punishment. When Cadence questions this theory, Gat asks why she gave away all her belongings. He, Johnny and Mirren drift off to sleep soon after.
Analysis
Cadence’s memory is now returning to her in fits and starts, with the Liars helping her to fill in the gaps, most of which she already knows. Cadence has remembered the family fighting, and the Liars’ destroying the statues, and their plans for further action. The ultimate consequences of the actions are yet unclear. She interprets their behavior as heroic. She feels that the Liars took a stand, defied the patriarchy, and destroyed Clairmont, the symbol of all that was wrong with the Sinclairs. She also remembers the focus of her pain, which was Gat. Her fear of losing her newfound love stands in stark contrast to all of her musings about symbolism and righteousness. In the end, Cadence’s decision to start a fire is revealed to be less the virtuous actions of a crusader against greed and paternalism and more the impetuous reaction of a child who is about to lose something that she loves as a form of unfounded punishment.
Even as Gat reminds Cadence that they have choices, Cadence insists that she wants the reality they share on Beechwood Island. Cadence is not interested in having a real relationship with Gat that would include confronting the other girls in New York City that might be interested in him. She doesn’t want to taste his mother’s curry or face society’s prejudice. She doesn’t want him to visit her in Vermont, to talk on the phone, to write letters, or to wait until college to be together. She wants Gat and Beechwood Island and her forever isolated idyllic summer vacations. So she convinces him, and together they convince the others, and she sees herself as a visionary rebel, for now.
