nomadreader

The backstory: Big Little Lies  is one of my book club's September selections (the other is Astonish Me  by Maggie Shipstead .) I've previously read two of Liane Moriarty's earlier novels, What Alice Forgot , which I quite enjoyed but apparently never reviewed here , and The Husband's Secret, which I liked, but not as much . The basics: Set in a picturesque Sydney, Australia beach community, Big Little Lies  is the story of three women, all of whom are mothers of kindergartners. Madeline, a divorced and re-married mother of two. She has definite opinions about everyone. Her best friend, Celeste, who is impossibly beautiful and a mom to five-year-old twin boys. Lastly, Jane, a new-to-town single mom who is shockingly young. The book opens on the night of a costume fundraiser at the school, when there is a mysterious death. The action soon jumps back six months to the day of kindergarten orientation, when Jane meets Celeste and Madeline. This review contains some sp...

The backstory:  After reading  What Alice Forgot   for my book club this summer (I'll review it eventually, I promise!), I was excited to see the first pick since I joined the She Reads Online Book Club would be Liane Moriarty's latest novel, The Husband's Secret. The basics: The Husband's Secret  focuses on three families in Sydney, who all have a tie to a Catholic school. Tess uproots her son and moves back to Sydney to stay with her mother when her cousin/best friend and her husband reveal that they are in love. Rachel, the school secretary, still mourns the loss of her daughter, who was murdered as teenager. She's further devastated when her son tells her he, his wife and son are moving to New York for two years. Cecelia is the woman who seemingly has it all, including three daughters and a successful Tupperware party business. When she stumbles across a letter in her attic addressed to her with the instructions "to be opened by my wife only in the even...