The Last Time I Lied: A Novel

For her entire adult life, Emma has worn just one piece of jewelry: a charm bracelet with three tiny pewter birds. The bird charms represent the girls that went missing from Dogwood cabin, vanishing without a trace as if they had suddenly grown wings and flown away. The bracelet thus pays homage to Emma’s lost friends. It is also a “talisman” meant to ward off Emma’s hallucinations; however, it remains her “devoted companion” even though she hasn’t had a hallucination in years. Rather, the bracelet is a constant reminder of her childhood trauma, representing her continued guilt and “fixation” on the girls years after their disappearance. By the end of the book, Emma has learned the truth and “outgrown” the bracelet. She throws it into the lake, symbolizing her healing and newfound freedom from the past.

As the manmade lake at the center of Camp Nightingale, Lake Midnight symbolizes Hiding Reality Behind Idyllic Appearances. Throughout the novel, characters lie about or otherwise hide truths they feel ashamed of or guilty about. In the end, all these attempts are futile, and the truth eventually reveals itself. Likewise, the water of Lake Midnight covers the history of the valley, but covering is not the same as erasing: Everything from the branches of drowned trees to the building that was once Peaceful Valley Asylum still exists under the surface.