The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

Paperback: 402 pages
Genre: Contemporary Women's Fiction
Publisher: Penguin 2013
Source: Tywyn Public Library
First Sentences: It was all because of the Berlin Wall. If it wasn't for the Berlin Wall Cecilia would never have found the letter and then she wouldn't be sitting here, at the kitchen table, willing herself not to rip it open.
Favourite Quote:“None of us ever know all the possible courses our lives could have, and maybe should have taken.” 
Review Quote: 'The Husband's Secret is a staggeringly brilliant novel. It is literally unputdownable' Sophie Hannah - Author
My Opinion: Gains pace as the secret unfolds.

An author I knew nothing about until friends started recommending 'The Husband's Secret' to me. After the fourth one mentioned it, I decided that I really should see what they were all raving about. Well for the first part of the novel I will admit I had my doubts that it was going to meet my expectations. In the end I am glad I read this but it will not make my list of top 2014 reads. It started off I felt very slowly and jumped all over the place in what at first seems irrelevant. However I preserved and the pace picks up and all the earlier chapters suddenly make sense when you learn exactly what this terrible secret is!

The protagonist Cecilia Fitzpatrick has made a successful and happy life for herself as a wife, mother and business woman who is admired by others in her local community in Sydney. Whilst hunting for something in the attic of her house one day she comes across a letter labelled to be read only in the event of the death of her husband. He is very much alive still and when she mentions her find to him, events suddenly seem to spiral out of control and his secret has momentous repercussions not just on himself and Cecilia but on other locals whose lives are also dramatically touched by the contents. There is Tess whose husband has recently announced he has fallen in love with another woman, she has come to Sydney with her young son to stay with her mother while she decides how to move on with her life. The third woman is Rachel a local widow whose life revolves around her young grandson. You will be surprised how the lives of these three women who hardly know each other will intersect. How does the secret impact on all their lives, well I am certainly not revealing that to you here. 

Contemporary fiction that is a compelling read which gains pace as the secret unfolds and recommended as a good choice for book clubs as raises plenty of situations for discussion. 

Liane Moriarty on The Husband's Secret

Author Profile

Biography mainly courtesy of Goodreads Author Profile  To read even more about Liane click here

Liane was born on a November day in 1966 in Sydney, Australia. A few hours after she was born, she smiled directly at her father through the nursery glass window, which is remarkable, seeing as most babies can’t even focus their eyes at that age.

Her first word was ‘glug’. This was faithfully recorded in the baby book kept by her mother. As the eldest of six children, Liane was the only one to get a baby book. 

As a child, she loved to read, so much so that school friends would cruelly hide their books when she came to play. She does not go to sleep at night without first reading a novel for a very long time in a very hot bath.

She can’t remember the first story she ever wrote, but she does remember her first publishing deal. Her father ‘commissioned’ her to write a novel for him and paid her an advance of $1.00. She wrote a three volume epic called, ‘The Mystery of Dead Man’s Island’

After leaving school, Liane began a career in advertising and marketing. She became quite corporate for a while and wore suits and worried a lot about the size of her office. She eventually left her position as marketing manager of a legal publishing company business called The Little Ad Agency. After that she worked as a freelance advertising copywriter, writing everything from websites and TV commercials to the back of the Sultana Bran box.

She also wrote short stories and many first chapters of novels that didn't go any further. The problem was that she didn't actually believe that real people had novels published. Then one day she found out that they did, when her younger sister Jaclyn Moriarty called to say that her novel, Feeling Sorry for Celia was about to be published.

In a fever of sibling rivalry, Liane rushed to the computer and wrote a children’s book called The Animal Olympics, which went on to be enthusiastically rejected by every publisher in Australia.

She calmed down and enrolled in a Masters degree at Macquarie University in Sydney. As part of that degree, she wrote her first novel, Three Wishes. It was accepted by the lovely people at Pan Macmillan and went on to be published around the world. Her latest books are published by the equally lovely people at Penguin in both the US and the UK. Since then she has written two more novels for adults, as well as a series of books for children.

Liane is now a full-time author. She lives in Sydney with her husband, her daughter Anna and son George.


The biographical information and photo used in this post are with thanks to the following websites, where you can also find more information about the author and her writing.


Goodreads Author Profile      Liane Moriarty - Amazon Page  

Author's Official Website      YouTube Video 'The Husband's Secret'

Facebook Profile - Liane Moriarty        Wikepedia - Liane Moriarty