Big Little Lies

DON’T MISS SEASON 2 OF THE GOLDEN GLOBE AND EMMY AWARD-WINNING HBO SERIES
STARRING REESE WITHERSPOON, NICOLE KIDMAN, SHAILENE WOODLEY, LAURA DERN, ZOË KRAVITZ, AND MERYL STREEP

From the author of Nine Perfect Strangers, Truly Madly Guilty, and The Husband’s Secret comes the #1 New York Times bestselling novel about the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves just to survive.

A murder...A tragic accident...Or just parents behaving badly? What’s indisputable is that someone is dead.

Madeline is a force to be reckoned with. She’s funny, biting, and passionate; she remembers everything and forgives no one. Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare but she is paying a price for the illusion of perfection. New to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for a nanny. She comes with a mysterious past and a sadness beyond her years. These three women are at different crossroads, but they will all wind up in the same shocking place.

Big Little Lies is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, schoolyard scandal, and the little lies that can turn lethal.

Liane Moriarty is the Australian author of nine internationally best-selling novels: Three Wishes, The Last Anniversary, What Alice Forgot, The Hypnotist’s Love Story, Nine Perfect Strangers and the number one New York Times bestsellers: The Husband's Secret, Big Little Lies, Truly Madly Guilty and Apples Never Fall. Her books have been translated into over forty languages and sold more than 20 million copies.

Big Little Lies, Nine Perfect Strangers and Apples Never Fall were adapted into popular television series with the star-studded casts including Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Melissa McCarthy and Annette Bening.

Her new novel, Here One Moment will be released in 2024.

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

“Ms. Moriarty’s long-parched fans have something new to dig into…Big Little Lies [may have] even more staying power than The Husband’s Secret.”—The New York Times

“Funny and thrilling, page-turning but with emotional depth, Big Little Lies is a terrific follow-up to The Husband’s Secret.”—Booklist (starred review)

“Big Little Lies tolls a warning bell about the big little lies we tell in order to survive. It takes a powerful stand against domestic violence even as it makes us laugh at the adults whose silly costume party seems more reminiscent of a middle-school dance.”—The Washington Post

“Moriarty demonstrates an excellent talent for exposing the dark, seedy side of the otherwise “perfect” family unit…Highly recommended.”—Library Journal (starred review)

“Irresistible…Exposing the fault lines in what looks like perfection is a specialty of Liane Moriarty… Moriarty’s sly humor and razor-sharp insights will keep you turning the pages to find out.”—People Magazine

"The secrets burrowed in this seemingly placid small town...are so suburban noir they would make David Lynch clap with glee...[Moriarty] is a fantastically nimble writer, so sure-footed that the book leaps between dark and light seamlessly; even the big reveal in the final pages feels earned and genuinely shocking.”—Entertainment Weekly

“If you're looking for a novel that will turn you into a compulsive book-finisher look no further. Moriarty has produced another gripping, satirical hit...It’s can’t-put-downability comes from its darker subplots...A book that will make you appreciate the long days of summer.”—Oprah.com

"Reading one [of Liane Moriarty's novels] is a bit like drinking a pink cosmo laced with arsenic...a fun, engaging and sometimes disturbing read…Moriarty is back in fine form."—USA Today

“A juicy drama.”—People Stylewatch

“Not your average mommy novel. It’s a juicy, twisted murder mystery replete with themes of marital abuse and self-denial…The perfect mindless beach read.”—Purewow.com

“Suburbia is about to get a lot more scandalous.”—Closer Weekly

"The Aussie author of last year’s runaway hit The Husband’s Secret comes back with another winning and wise novel that intertwines the lives of three women."—EW.com

"It’s no mystery why Liane Moriarty is a summer staple: with wit and compassion...[she] keeps it real."—Family Circle

“Riveting and insightful…Moriarty has crafted a great summer read full of perceptive glimpses into the many guises of human relationships: mother-child, husband-wife (and ex-wife) and above all, the strong bond of female friendships.”—Bookpage

"Deservedly popular Moriarty invigorates … women’s fiction through wit, good humor, sharp insight into human nature and addictive storytelling."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty is a sharp, emotionally layered novel about friendship, marriage, motherhood, and the hidden violence that can exist behind apparently perfect lives. Set in the wealthy coastal community of Pirriwee, Australia, the story follows three women whose lives become closely intertwined through their children’s first year at school. On the surface, their world seems privileged and orderly, full of school events, coffee mornings, and family routines. But beneath that polished surface, each woman is carrying pain, secrets, and private struggles that are far more serious than anyone around them realizes.

The three central women are Madeline Mackenzie, Celeste Wright, and Jane Chapman. Madeline is loud, funny, sharp-tongued, and deeply loyal, but she is also full of old resentments. She is frustrated by her ex-husband Nathan, his new wife Bonnie, and the complicated family dynamics that continue to unsettle her. She is the kind of person who remembers every slight and finds it hard to let go, which makes her both entertaining and exhausting. Celeste appears to have the most perfect life of the three. She is beautiful, wealthy, and married to the charming Perry Wright, with whom she has twin boys. To outsiders, they seem like the ideal couple, but Celeste is living with a terrifying reality at home: Perry is abusive, and his violence is hidden behind his charisma and status. Jane is the newest arrival in town, a young single mother with a quiet sadness about her. She has moved with her son Ziggy in hopes of starting over, but she is carrying the trauma of a violent assault from her past and is deeply insecure about whether she can protect her child.

The women are brought together through their children at Pirriwee Public School, where the politics of school mothers quickly become its own battlefield. Jane is immediately judged by some of the other parents, especially when Ziggy is accused of bullying a girl named Amabella. This accusation creates tension and social division, and because Jane is already vulnerable, it hits her hard. Madeline and Celeste eventually take her under their wing, and the three women form a close friendship that becomes the emotional center of the novel. Their bond is built not only on shared school experiences but on a growing recognition that each of them is hiding something painful. As they become more open with one another, the story reveals the loneliness behind their public personas.

Jane’s past is one of the most heartbreaking parts of the novel. She was raped as a teenager by a man she knew only by the name Saxon Banks, and Ziggy was conceived from that assault. She has never fully recovered from the experience, and much of her life is shaped by fear, shame, and doubt. Because she is so worried about Ziggy inheriting some kind of darkness from his unknown father, she becomes especially distressed when he is accused of hurting another child. Celeste’s story is equally devastating, though hidden in a very different way. Her marriage to Perry is abusive, and while he often seems loving in public, their private life is full of fear, manipulation, and bruises. Celeste stays partly because of love, partly because of fear, and partly because abuse has made her feel trapped and confused. Madeline, meanwhile, is caught up in the emotional mess of blended families, her teenage daughter Abigail pulling away from her and toward Nathan and Bonnie. This makes her feel rejected and replaced, intensifying her already fierce personality.

As the novel progresses, the schoolyard drama slowly gives way to something much darker. The question of who is really bullying Amabella lingers in the background, but the deeper mystery is about the hidden pain in the adult world. Through the friendship between the three women, the novel examines how easily people can misread one another and how often domestic suffering is disguised by charm, money, or social confidence. The structure of the story builds tension gradually, alternating between present-day events and the knowledge that something catastrophic happened at a school trivia night. The reader knows from the beginning that a death has occurred, but not exactly how or why.

That trivia night becomes the climax of all the story’s emotional pressures. By then, the truth about Perry has finally begun to surface, and Jane realizes that he is the man who raped her years earlier. When his violence toward Celeste becomes impossible to hide any longer, the final confrontation explodes. In the chaos, Perry is pushed to his death, and the women who witness it are forced to make an impossible decision about what to do next. Their choice to protect one another becomes an act of loyalty, solidarity, and survival. The lie they tell is not small or innocent, but it is one born out of fear and the need to keep each other safe.

By the end, Big Little Lies becomes more than a story about a murder. It is about the stories people tell to survive, the danger of appearances, and the strength women can find in one another when the world around them is built to dismiss their pain. Liane Moriarty blends humor, tension, and emotional depth in a way that makes the novel feel both entertaining and serious. At its heart, it is a story about how even in a picture-perfect community, the biggest lies are often the ones people tell about their own lives.