Truly, Madly, Guilty by Liane Moriarty

Kindle Edition: 1663KB
Hardback: 415 pages
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Publisher: Flatiron Books 2016
Source: Amazon
First Sentence: 'This is a story that begins with a barbecue,' said Clementine 
Literary Awards: Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction (2016), Holden-Crowther Book Award Nominee (2016)
Review Quote: "Truly Madly Guilty" will be widely read It has all the requisite trademarks of one of her hits It probes some of the things she writes about best: fraught friendships, covert backbiting, stale marriages. "New York Times"
My Opinion: When I knew that this title was going to be a choice for Book Club, based on my previous enjoyment of this author's novels, I purchased a copy for my Kindle. What a disappointment, very much in the minority as regards to opinion, I found Truly, Madly Guilty, boring to the extreme. 

Links to my Previous Reviews: 

The Husband's Secret       Little Lies/Big Little Lies


Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:

The electrifying new novel from the international bestselling author, Liane Moriarty

Despite their differences, Erika and Clementine have been best friends since they were children. So when Erika needs help, Clementine should be the obvious person to turn to. Or so you'd think.

For Clementine, as a mother of a two desperately trying to practise for the audition of a lifetime, the last thing she needs is Erika asking for something, again.

But the barbecue should be the perfect way to forget their problems for a while. Especially when their hosts, Vid and Tiffany, are only too happy to distract them.

Which is how it all spirals out of control...





Video Trailer for 'Truly, Madly, Guilty' Courtesy of YouTube

Author Profile

Liane Moriarty is an Australian author born in Sydney on the 15 November 1966.

Her best known novel The Husband's Secret sold over three million copies worldwide, was a number 1 UK bestseller, an Amazon Best Book of 2013 and has been translated into over 40 languages. It spent over a year on the New York Times bestseller list. CBS Films has acquired the film rights. 

With the launch of Big Little Lies, Liane became the first Australian author to have a novel debut at number one on the New York Times bestseller list. An HBO series based on Big Little Lies is currently in production, starring Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon. 

Writing as L.M. Moriarty, Liane has also written a children's book series, The Petrifying Problem with Princess Petronella, The Shocking Trouble on the Planet of Shobble and The Wicked War on the Planet of Whimsy. 

Liane lives in Sydney with her husband, son and daughter. 

For further biographical info visit her official website - about Liane



Photographs, Trailer and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites.

Goodreads Author Profile      Liane Moriarty - Amazon Page         Author's Official Website     

 Facebook Profile - Liane Moriarty        Wikepedia - Liane Moriarty

YouTube Interview    

Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

Paperback: 450 pages

Genre: Contemporary Fiction 
Publisher: Michael Joseph 2014
Source: Lovereading Reviewer Panel
First Sentences: "That doesn't sound like a School Trivia Night," said Mrs Patty Ponder to Marie Antoinette. "That Sounds like a riot."
Favourite Quote:“It had never crossed her mind that sending your child to school would be like going back to school yourself.” 
Review Quote: Here at Company HQ we're all obsessed with Little Lies by Liane Moriarty. This juicy seaside-town murder mystery will be one of the biggest books this autumn (Company Magazine
My Opinion: Entertaining and compelling read

Please note this title is published as 'Big Little Lies' in USA and Australia.

Although you know right from the opening paragraphs that something dreadful has happened in Pirriwee, this compelling story keeps you guessing.  Tragic yet hilarious, so much more than a murder mystery this novel kept me reading well into the night, as I kept telling myself just one more chapter!

The protagonists Jane, Maddie and Celeste are all mothers of children at Pirriwee Public School, all very different but drawn together by events at school. Jane is the single parent, new to the area, with nothing to say about her son's father. Celeste is the happily married one, also wealthy and beautiful, the envy of all the other Mums. Maddie or Madeleine is the lively one, having problems with her teenage daughter from a previous marriage. The scene is set, disaster has struck, but to find out exactly what the author takes us back to the start of the school year to tell us the whole story. The characters and their relationships are all very realistic and sadly totally believable.  I say sadly as these are everyday situations that readers are going to be familiar with. Nobody's life is quite as it seems and as we are taken behind the scenes of the characters relationships with their partners and families one is pulled into the complicated webs of deceit.  Bullying both mental and physical is a sad fact of life, the added drama is that all through the book you know the result is catastrophic but you do not know exactly what happened until the very end!  

In conclusion an entertaining and compelling read, which gains pace as the dreadful facts emerge. Another good choice for book clubs as the story raises plenty of subjects for discussion. Fans of  Sophie Hannah and Jojo Moyes will probably find they like Liane Moriarty's writing.

LITTLE LIES by Liane Moriarty: One fateful night -- can you unravel the truth?       No spoilers.

Link to my review of  The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

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 - Little Lies

Facebook Profile - Liane Moriarty        Wikipedia - Liane Moriarty

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