Lotti Coates lives in the shadow of a genius: her father George is a brilliant and celebrated Australian painter.

When Lotti meets the outcast waif Kyla at a suburban Canberra school, two worlds are set to collide. Slowly Kyla is drawn into the orbit of the Coates family. Or is it the other way around?

As Lotti and Kyla navigate their way towards adulthood, dark secrets start to unravel, with devastating consequences …

We Were Never Friends is a story of friendship, the pursuit of a creative life and the legacies we leave behind.