Little Liar

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, child death, sexual violence, physical abuse, emotional abuse, child abuse, animal death, sexual content, and cursing.

In Little Liar, author Leigh Rivers delves into how past trauma shapes behavior for years after the fact. In a sequence that illustrates this theme, Malachi suddenly seizes Olivia’s throat in anger because she turned off the lights on him. Malachi signs that he is furious at Olivia because she “silenced” him by cloaking his sign language in darkness. The novel does not justify Malachi’s exaggerated, violent response but suggests that it can be understood in the context of childhood events, such as Malachi’s mother locking him in his room and asking him to be silent for weeks and his inability to form words as he watches his mother and Rex die. These events—all involving a forced or involuntary silence—cause Malachi to develop a complex response to being rendered voiceless. Interpreting any attempt to silence him as a vicious attack on his person, Malachi erupts in defensive anger. The novel uses several such intersections between Malachi’s past trauma and his present behavior to illustrate how traumatic events continue to resonate throughout a person’s life while also offering hope that the trauma can be overcome.