Oct 2022: Apples Never Fall by Lianne Moriarty

Becky has selected "Apples Never Fall" by Lianne Moriarty for October. This will be our third Moriarty book, I think. And some of us have also watched the Big Little Lies series. :)

ABOUT THE BOOK

#1 New York Times Bestseller

From Liane Moriarty, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers, comes Apples Never Fall, a novel that looks at marriage, siblings, and how the people we love the most can hurt us the deepest.

The Delaney family love one another dearly—it’s just that sometimes they want to murder each other . . .

If your mother was missing, would you tell the police? Even if the most obvious suspect was your father?

This is the dilemma facing the four grown Delaney siblings.

The Delaneys are fixtures in their community. The parents, Stan and Joy, are the envy of all of their friends. They’re killers on the tennis court, and off it their chemistry is palpable. But after fifty years of marriage, they’ve finally sold their famed tennis academy and are ready to start what should be the golden years of their lives. So why are Stan and Joy so miserable?

The four Delaney children—Amy, Logan, Troy, and Brooke—were tennis stars in their own right, yet as their father will tell you, none of them had what it took to go all the way. But that’s okay, now that they’re all successful grown-ups and there is the wonderful possibility of grandchildren on the horizon.

One night a stranger named Savannah knocks on Stan and Joy’s door, bleeding after a fight with her boyfriend. The Delaneys are more than happy to give her the small kindness she sorely needs. If only that was all she wanted.

Later, when Joy goes missing, and Savannah is nowhere to be found, the police question the one person who remains: Stan. But for someone who claims to be innocent, he, like many spouses, seems to have a lot to hide. Two of the Delaney children think their father is innocent, two are not so sure—but as the two sides square off against each other in perhaps their biggest match ever, all of the Delaneys will start to reexamine their shared family history in a very new light.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Liane Moriarty is the author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers Big Little Lies, The Husband’s Secret, and Truly Madly Guilty; the New York Times bestsellers Nine Perfect Strangers, What Alice Forgot, and The Last Anniversary; The Hypnotist’s Love Story; and Three Wishes. She lives in Sydney, Australia, with her husband and two children.

READ AN INTERVIEW HERE: https://www.nzbooklovers.co.nz/post/interview-liane-moriarty-talks-about-nine-perfect-strangers

February 2021: Nine Perfect Strangers

 Our February pick from Becky is "Nine Perfect Strangers" by Liane Moriarty. "I am excited to read something I haven't read by one of my very favorite authors," said Becky. "Also, I was able to grab the audio book without any wait on Libby."

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

 “If three characters were good in Big Little Lies, nine are even better in Nine Perfect Strangers.” —Lisa Scottoline, The New York Times Book Review

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of

Big Little Lies

Could ten days at a health resort really change you forever? In Liane Moriarty’s latest page-turner, nine perfect strangers are about to find out...

Nine people gather at a remote health resort. Some are here to lose weight, some are here to get a reboot on life, some are here for reasons they can’t even admit to themselves. Amidst all of the luxury and pampering, the mindfulness and meditation, they know these ten days might involve some real work. But none of them could imagine just how challenging the next ten days are going to be.

Frances Welty, the formerly best-selling romantic novelist, arrives at Tranquillum House nursing a bad back, a broken heart, and an exquisitely painful paper cut. She’s immediately intrigued by her fellow guests. Most of them don’t look to be in need of a health resort at all. But the person that intrigues her most is the strange and charismatic owner/director of Tranquillum House. Could this person really have the answers Frances didn’t even know she was seeking? Should Frances put aside her doubts and immerse herself in everything Tranquillum House has to offer – or should she run while she still can?

It’s not long before every guest at Tranquillum House is asking exactly the same question.

Combining all of the hallmarks that have made her writing a go-to for anyone looking for wickedly smart, page-turning fiction that will make you laugh and gasp, Liane Moriarty’s Nine Perfect Strangers once again shows why she is a master of her craft.

PS:
The series is expected to debut on Hulu in 2021 to accommodate its talent's schedules. Blossom Films and Made Up Stories closed a pre-emptive deal for TV/film rights to Nine Perfect Strangers, which spent 13 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list, ahead of its November 2018 publication.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Liane Moriarty is the Australian author of seven internationally best-selling novels: Three Wishes, The Last Anniversary, What Alice Forgot, The Hypnotist’s Love Story and the number 1 New York Times bestsellers: The Husband's Secret, Big Little Lies and Truly Madly Guilty. Her books have been translated into over forty languages and read by more than 14 million people worldwide.

Big Little Lies and Truly Madly Guilty both debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list - the first time this has been achieved by an Australian. Big Little Lies was adapted into a multiple award-winning HBO series starring Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon, who have also optioned the film rights for Truly Madly Guilty. Truly Madly Guilty has sold over 1 million copies in the US alone.

Liane lives in Sydney, Australia, together with her husband, son, daughter and Labrador. You can find out more at www.lianemoriarty.com and www.facebook.com/LianeMoriartyAuthor 

LINK TO PAST BOOK CLUB PICK BY LIANE MORIARTY:

We read "What Alice Forgot" previously. See more here.

'What Alice Forgot' book discussion questions

From http://www.us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/what_alice_forgot.html

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Did you like the younger Alice best? Or did you relate more to the older Alice?


2. What would your younger self of ten years ago think of the person you are today?


3. What would surprise your younger self most about the life you're currently leading? What would disappoint you?


4. What would you think of your children? Are they how you imagined they would be? Are you the parent you envisioned? Why or why not?


5. Alice is shocked by many transformations—her gym-toned body, her clothes, her house. Are you more or less polished than you were a decade ago? And do you think there's any deeper significance to such change?


6. Do you think it was realistic that Alice ended up back with Nick? Were you happy with that ending? Do you think they would have ended up together if she hadn't lost her memory?


7. In order for Nick to be successful at his job, was it inevitable that he would spend less time with his family and thereby grow apart from Alice?


8. How did you feel about the sections written from the perspectives of Elisabeth and Frannie? Did they add to your enjoyment of the book, or would you have preferred to have it written entirely from Alice's point of view?


9. Do you think it was unavoidable that Elisabeth and Alice had grown apart, because of the tension caused by Elisabeth's infertility versus Alice's growing family? Or do you think their rift had more to do with the kind of people both of them had become?


10. It's not only Alice who changed over the last decade. Elisabeth changed, too. Do you think she would have been so accepting of the new Alice at the end if she herself didn't get pregnant?


11. Out of all the characters in the book, who do you think had changed the most over the past decade and why?


12. The film rights to the book have been sold to Fox 2000—who do you think would be good in the lead roles?


13. If you were to write a letter to your future self to be opened in ten years, what would you say?

Meet Liane Moriarty

From http://www.lianemoriarty.com/

Liane was born on a beautiful November day in 1966 in Sydney. 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 so she likes to refer to it often.)
As a child, she loved to read, so much so that school friends would cruelly hide their books when she came to play. She still doesn’t know how to 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 to run her own (not especially successful) business called The Little Ad Agency. After that she worked as (a more successful, thankfully) 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 (brilliant, hilarious, award-winning) 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.

Liane and sister Jaci

Liane (right) and sister Jaci today

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 Amy Einhorn Books in the US and Penguin in the UK)

Since then she has written four more novels for adults, as well as a series of books for children.
In August 2013 Liane’s fifth novel The Husband’s Secret was released in the US and within two weeks had climbed the charts to become a #1 New York Times Bestseller. Much champagne was drunk.

Liane's youngest sister Nicola Moriarty has also released 2 novels, a wonderful, gripping story called Free-falling and her brilliant follow up novel, Paper Chains published by Random House.
Liane is now a full-time author. She lives in Sydney with her husband and two small children who like to climb all over her while she tries to write helpfully smashing their fists against the keyboard and suggesting she might like to watch the Wiggles instead.

Once upon a time she went heli-skiing and skydiving* and scuba diving. These days she goes to the park and ‘Gymbaroo’ and sings ‘I’m a Little Cuckoo Clock’ at swimming lessons. She has discovered that the adrenaline burst you experience from jumping out of a plane is remarkably similar to the one you get when your toddler makes a run for it in a busy car park

*She should disclose that she only ever went skydiving once and has no intention of ever doing it again. She just likes to give the impression that she once led an incredibly active, athletic life to make up for all the hours she now spends lying around reading novels and eating Turkish Delight. 

July 2014 book: "What Alice Forgot"

"For July, I am picking 'What Alice Forgot' by Liane Moriarty," said Becky. "I read 'The Husband's Secret' by her about a year ago and liked it a lot."

 

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

From the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, THE HUSBAND’S SECRET...

A “cheerfully engaging”* novel for anyone who’s ever asked herself, “How did I get here?”

  

Alice Love is twenty-nine, crazy about her husband, and pregnant with her first child.

 

So imagine Alice’s surprise when she comes to on the floor of a gym (a gym! She HATES the gym) and is whisked off to the hospital where she discovers the honeymoon is truly over — she’s getting divorced, she has three kids, and she’s actually 39 years old. Alice must reconstruct the events of a lost decade, and find out whether it’s possible to reconstruct her life at the same time. She has to figure out why her sister hardly talks to her, and how is it that she’s become one of those super skinny moms with really expensive clothes. Ultimately, Alice must discover whether forgetting is a blessing or a curse, and whether it’s possible to start over…

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

See http://www.lianemoriarty.com/

Liane Moriarty is the Australian author of five internationally best-selling novels, Three Wishes, The Last Anniversary, What Alice Forgot,
The Hypnotist's Love Story and
The Husband's Secret.

Writing as L.M.Moriarty, she is also the author of the Space Brigade books for children, (published in the US as the Nicola Berry, Earthling Ambassador series).