Author Guide · Domestic Suspense
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A school trivia night on Sydney’s northern beaches ends with a parent dead, and nobody will say who. That is the setup of Big Little Lies (2014), the novel that made Liane Moriarty the first Australian author to debut at number one on the New York Times bestseller list, and whose HBO adaptation won eight Emmy Awards. Born in Sydney in 1966, she was an advertising copywriter before she wrote her first novel on a creative writing course at Macquarie University. Her books are set at school gates, barbecues and wellness retreats, and each holds back one event until late in the story. Her books have sold more than 20 million copies. This guide covers her eleven key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 11 key books · 2004–2026 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Liane Moriarty has written eleven novels for adults. The best known are Big Little Lies (2014), The Husband’s Secret (2013), Nine Perfect Strangers (2018) and Apples Never Fall (2021); the newest is Big Little Truths (2026), the sequel to Big Little Lies. Start with Big Little Lies, and read it before the sequel.
Where to Start with Liane Moriarty
If you want her most famous book
→ Big Little Lies (2014) — the trivia-night death behind the HBO series.
If you want one secret and a tight plot
→ The Husband’s Secret (2013) — a letter to be opened after the husband’s death.
If you want her strangest premise
→ Here One Moment (2024) — a stranger on a plane predicting how everyone will die.
If you have already read Big Little Lies
→ Big Little Truths (2026) — the sequel, ten years on.
11 Liane Moriarty Books, in Order
Three Wishes
The Kettle triplets, Cat, Gemma and Lyn, come apart over the year that leads up to a birthday dinner at which one of them ends up with a fondue fork in her pregnant belly. Moriarty wrote it as her master’s project in creative writing at Macquarie University, while working as a copywriter.
The Last Anniversary
Sophie Honeywell inherits a house on Scribbly Gum Island from Connie, the great-aunt of an ex-boyfriend, and walks into a family that has lived for decades off one unsolved local mystery. It became a six-part series with Teresa Palmer and Miranda Richardson, on Binge in Australia and AMC+ in the US from March 2025, filmed in New South Wales.
What Alice Forgot
Alice falls at the gym and wakes up believing she is twenty-nine, newly married and pregnant with her first child. She is in fact thirty-nine, has three children, is in the middle of a divorce and no longer speaks to her sister. TriStar bought the film rights in July 2014; no film has been made.
The Hypnotist’s Love Story
Ellen, a Sydney hypnotherapist, falls for a man whose ex-girlfriend has been stalking him for years, and finds herself more curious about the stalker than afraid of her. The stalker narrates part of the book. The American network ABC ordered a pilot with Heather Graham as Ellen; it did not go to series.
The Husband’s Secret
Cecilia Fitzpatrick finds a letter from her husband, to be opened only in the event of his death, and has to decide whether to read it while he is still alive. What is in it runs through three families connected to a Catholic school in Sydney. It was her breakthrough in the United States, reaching number one on the New York Times list; CBS optioned the film rights.
Big Little Lies
A school trivia night at Pirriwee Public, a beachside primary school, ends in a death, and the novel goes back over the six months before it: Madeline, Celeste and the young single mother Jane, playground politics, and a marriage nobody outside it can see into. Fragments of witness statements are cut into the story. It won the 2015 Davitt Award for best adult crime novel, and the HBO series (2017, 2019) moved it to Monterey, California.
Truly Madly Guilty
Clementine and Sam and Clementine’s childhood friend Erika keep going back over one afternoon at a neighbour’s barbecue in Sydney. What happened that day is held back for half the book. It debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list.
Nine Perfect Strangers
Nine guests arrive at Tranquillum House, a remote wellness retreat in the Australian countryside run by Masha, a former corporate executive with plans for them they did not agree to. Hulu adapted it in 2021 with Nicole Kidman as Masha; a second season with a new story followed in 2025.
Apples Never Fall
Joy Delaney, half of a retired tennis-coaching couple in Sydney, disappears. Her four grown children suspect their father Stan, and start going back over the year a young stranger came to stay in their parents’ house. Peacock made it a limited series in 2024, with Annette Bening and Sam Neill.
Here One Moment
On a delayed flight from Hobart to Sydney, a quiet older woman walks down the aisle and tells each passenger how and at what age they will die. Then the first prediction comes true. Fifth Season won the screen rights in October 2024 and set up a series with Nicole Kidman’s Blossom Films and Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories.
Big Little Truths
Her first sequel, published on 25 August 2026, about ten years after Big Little Lies: Madeline, Celeste, Jane, Renata and Bonnie now have teenagers at high school, a stranger is asking questions around the school, and the principal is sent a severed finger. Moriarty said the book had to feature Mary Louise, the character she created for Meryl Streep in season two, “albeit an Australian version of her”. HBO’s third season of Big Little Lies will be based on it.
In What Order to Read Liane Moriarty
Only two books are connected: read Big Little Lies (2014) before Big Little Truths (2026), which picks up the same families a decade later. Everything else stands alone and can be read in any order.
Publication order does show her getting tighter. The first four books are looser family comedies with a mystery inside; from The Husband’s Secret on, each novel is built around one withheld event, and the later books push that into bigger premises: a retreat, a disappearance, a prophecy on a plane.
A reading path
1. The Husband’s Secret (2013)
2. Big Little Lies (2014)
3. What Alice Forgot (2009)
4. Here One Moment (2024)
5. Big Little Truths (2026)
Everything Else Liane Moriarty Published
Beyond the 11 key books: 3 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Children’s books: the Space Brigade series
3
3 books · 2007–2010
- 2007The Petrifying Problem with Princess PetronellaNicola Berry, a schoolgirl, is recruited as Earth’s ambassador; reissued in the US under the Nicola Berry name
- 2009The Shocking Trouble on the Planet of Shobblethe second Nicola Berry adventure
- 2010The Wicked War on the Planet of Whimsythe third and last
The years · 1966–2026
Quick facts about Liane Moriarty
- Known for
- Domestic suspense novels set in ordinary Australian suburbs and schools, in which one hidden event is held back until late in the book, several of them adapted as television series with Nicole Kidman.
- 1966
- Born in Sydney, the eldest of six children
- 2004
- Three Wishes, her first novel
- 2014
- Big Little Lies
- 2026
- Big Little Truths, her first sequel
- Born
- November 1966, Sydney, the eldest of six children
- Education
- University of Technology Sydney; master’s in creative writing, Macquarie University
- Before writing
- Advertising copywriter, then a freelance copywriting business
- Family
- Her sisters Jaclyn and Nicola Moriarty are also novelists
- Records
- First Australian author to debut at number one on the New York Times bestseller list
- Screen
- Four novels filmed for television: HBO, Hulu, Peacock and Binge
The red mark is 2014: Big Little Lies, the novel behind the HBO series.
How Liane Moriarty Writes: The Event Held Back
Almost every Moriarty novel is built around one event that the reader knows about and cannot see: a death at a trivia night in Big Little Lies, an afternoon at a barbecue in Truly Madly Guilty, a sealed letter in The Husband’s Secret. The story moves back and forth between before and after, and the reveal is kept until late, which is why the books are shelved as suspense even though there is rarely a detective.
She tells each story through several people at once, usually women at different points in a marriage or a family, and lets them misjudge each other. In Big Little Lies the chapters are broken up by snippets of statements from other parents, a gossiping chorus that is often funny. The tone is light and comic on the surface, while the subjects underneath are domestic violence, infertility, grief and guilt; The Washington Post wrote that Big Little Lies takes “a powerful stand against domestic violence”.
Her settings are deliberately ordinary and mostly Australian: Sydney suburbs, a beachside school, an island, a Tasmanian flight. The television versions often moved them to the United States, but the books stay home; when The Last Anniversary was filmed, she insisted it stay in Australia. For writers who do similar things with families and secrets, see Authors like Liane Moriarty.
Watch
Liane Moriarty on Big Little Lies
Kirkus TV talks with Moriarty the day before the US release of Big Little Lies, a year after the breakout of The Husband’s Secret, about her success and the themes of the new novel.
Frequently asked questions about Liane Moriarty’s books
How many books has Liane Moriarty written?
Eleven novels for adults, from Three Wishes (2004) to Big Little Truths (2026), plus three children’s books in the Space Brigade series (2007–2010).
What are Liane Moriarty’s books in order?
Three Wishes (2004), The Last Anniversary (2005), What Alice Forgot (2009), The Hypnotist’s Love Story (2011), The Husband’s Secret (2013), Big Little Lies (2014), Truly Madly Guilty (2016), Nine Perfect Strangers (2018), Apples Never Fall (2021), Here One Moment (2024) and Big Little Truths (2026).
What order should I read Liane Moriarty’s books in?
Any order you like, with one exception: read Big Little Lies (2014) before Big Little Truths (2026), because the second is a direct sequel. Every other novel stands on its own.
Where should I start with Liane Moriarty?
Big Little Lies. It is her most widely read novel and shows what she does best: an ordinary setting with something dangerous underneath. If you want something shorter and tighter, start with The Husband’s Secret.
What is Liane Moriarty’s most famous book?
Big Little Lies (2014), which won the 2015 Davitt Award and became the HBO series with Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley, Laura Dern and Zoë Kravitz. Its first season won eight Emmy Awards.
What is the newest Liane Moriarty book?
Big Little Truths, published on 25 August 2026. It is the sequel to Big Little Lies, set about ten years later, and the first sequel she has written.
Do I need to read Big Little Lies before Big Little Truths?
Yes, or at least watch the first season of the series. The sequel picks up the same families a decade later, with their children now teenagers.
Will there be a third season of Big Little Lies?
HBO has said a third season is coming and will be based on Big Little Truths. Francesca Sloane is writing it.
Which Liane Moriarty books have been adapted?
Four as television series: Big Little Lies (HBO, 2017 and 2019), Nine Perfect Strangers (Hulu, 2021 and 2025), Apples Never Fall (Peacock, 2024) and The Last Anniversary (Binge and AMC+, 2025). Here One Moment is in development; film rights to What Alice Forgot and The Husband’s Secret were sold but nothing has been made.
What genre does Liane Moriarty write?
Domestic suspense: novels about families, marriages and neighbourhoods in which something is badly wrong, usually with a secret held back until late in the book. They are often shelved as general or book club fiction rather than crime.
Who are the Moriarty sisters?
Liane is the eldest of six children, and two of her sisters are also published writers: Jaclyn Moriarty, who writes for young adults, and Nicola Moriarty, who writes fiction for adults.
Is Liane Moriarty Australian?
Yes. She was born in Sydney in 1966, and most of her novels are set in and around Sydney, even when the television versions moved them to the United States.
Footnotes
- Liane Moriarty — Wikipedia
- Big Little Truths announced — The Hollywood Reporter, 2026
- Liane Moriarty interview — Marie Claire, 2026
- Davitt Award — Sisters in Crime Australia
- The Last Anniversary — Wikipedia
- Here One Moment series — IF Magazine, 2024
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“It felt like I was catching up with old friends. I really hope readers experience that same sense of a reunion.”
— Liane Moriarty on Big Little Truths, The Hollywood Reporter (2026)
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