The Pools by E. Lockhart: Release Date, Story and Fairy-Tale Inspiration

By Ahaqir Ishaq | News | October 4, 2026

E. Lockhart’s next novel brings first love to a New England town where the water holds a dangerous secret. The Pools is scheduled for release on October 6, 2026, and combines a contemporary teenage romance with the unsettling possibilities of a fairy tale.

For readers who discovered Lockhart through We Were Liars, the new book offers another story built around emotional stakes and uncertainty. This time, the central question concerns what happens to love when an extraordinary event changes the people involved.

Here is what we know about the release, its story, and the folklore behind it.

When Is The Pools Being Released?

According to Penguin Random House’s official listing, The Pools will be published in the United States by Delacorte Press on October 6, 2026.

The publisher lists a 384-page hardcover, an ebook, and an audiobook for the same date. Its recommended age range is 12 and up.

The announced hardcover also features printed endpapers, deckled edges, and a stamped case. Those details apply to the edition described by the publisher; readers purchasing other editions should check their individual listings.

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What Is The Pools About?

The story follows Lexie, a newcomer to a small New England town famous for its hot springs. She arrives with a past she does not want to discuss and meets Chester, a local boy whose appealing public image conceals troubles of his own.

Their attraction develops into a relationship, but the setting carries an ominous history. Something terrible once happened at the pools. Over time, the warning attached to that event has lost its power, and the townspeople have returned to treating the water as an ordinary part of life.

That changes one freezing winter morning when five people enter the pools. Chester is among them, and what happens alters Lexie’s world.

Lockhart’s official description presents the novel as a love story disrupted by a startling transformation. The appeal of that premise lies in how closely comfort and danger sit together: the place where people gather and connect also becomes the source of their fear.

This overview leaves the nature of the transformation and the ending unrevealed.

What Fairy Tales Inspired The Pools?

In a September 29 interview with Publishers Weekly, Lockhart explained that she drew on a family of fairy tales involving people transformed into birds.

In the versions she discussed, brothers become ravens or swans, and their sister must rescue them. Lockhart borrowed the underlying idea and moved it into a present-day love story.

That distinction matters. Her explanation points to a shared folklore motif rather than a straightforward adaptation of one single tale.

My reading of the premise is that this inspiration gives the romance a difficult question to explore: what does devotion require when someone you love becomes unreachable in a way ordinary life cannot explain? The fantasy element offers a way to approach separation, grief, and the limits of rescue without reducing them to a familiar relationship conflict.

Lockhart also told the publication that she was interested in how tragedy affects an entire community—and how those less directly affected can move on while other people continue living with the consequences.

Is The Pools Written in Verse?

The book’s poetic presentation deserves a little clarification.

In an interview with PopSize, Lockhart explained that she used poetic techniques and occasional poetic forms, but does not consider most of The Pools to be verse.

She connected its short chapters and prose poetry to approaches already present in her Liars books. Readers should therefore expect a poetic narrative rather than assume the entire novel follows a conventional verse format.

That interview also adds context to Chester’s characterization. Lockhart described him as recovering from depression and self-harm, with continuing work involved in maintaining that recovery. Her comments suggest an interest in portraying a romantic lead who has emotional difficulties and actively seeks help.

For prospective readers, that is useful context: the book’s romance exists alongside serious questions about mental health.

Is The Pools Connected to We Were Liars?

The Pools is not set in the We Were Liars universe, according to PEOPLE’s announcement of the novel.

The announcement identifies thematic overlap, including grief, privilege, social class, and identity. Readers can approach the new story without treating it as another installment in the Liars sequence.

Why The Pools Caught My Attention

The most interesting part of the premise is the setting. A town organized around its hot springs gives the danger a personal dimension: the residents have built everyday routines around something they believe they understand.

As a fantasy reader, I am also drawn to the decision to bring folklore into an otherwise contemporary relationship. A transformation can change the terms of a romance completely, forcing the characters to confront questions that attraction alone cannot answer.

Those are reasons to watch the release, rather than a verdict on the finished novel. With The Pools arriving on October 6, readers will soon be able to see how Lockhart brings its romance, poetic style, and fairy-tale inspiration together.

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