Big Little Truths: Big Characters, Bigger Secrets

 

I’ve just finished Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Truths, and I loved it.

If you enjoyed Big Little Lies, you’ll have a particularly good time returning to Pirriwee Peninsula and catching up with Madeline, Celeste, Jane, Renata and Bonnie. Ten years have passed, the children are now teenagers, and the women have all moved on in different ways. Or at least they think they have.

One warning before you start: read Big Little Lies first. You can apparently read Big Little Truths as a standalone, and the author herself says you don’t have to have read the first book. But I really wouldn’t. There are spoilers for the first novel, and much of the pleasure comes from knowing these women already and understanding what lies underneath their friendships.

What I love about this book (all Liane's books) is her characters.

They are larger than life, slightly ridiculous, deeply flawed and completely believable. And, perhaps most importantly, they think things they would never actually say.

You know those moments when someone says something perfectly reasonable and polite, while inside your head you are having an entirely different conversation?

Liane Moriarty gets that.

Her characters can be generous and petty, loving and judgemental, selfless and selfish, sometimes within the space of a few pages. They gossip. They make assumptions. They misunderstand each other. They have enormous internal reactions to tiny things. And they carry around thoughts that, if spoken aloud, would probably destroy several friendships.

I find that enormously enjoyable to read and enormously thought-provoking. Because Big Little Truths isn't just an entertaining story about wealthy-ish suburban mothers and their complicated lives. Like Big Little Lies, it uses those lives to tackle some fairly big issues.

There is ageing and menopause, marriage and motherhood, teenage relationships, the legacy of domestic violence, generational trauma, parenting, illness, technology and the way we try to protect our children. At the heart of the story is also a much darker exploration of grooming and the ways a seemingly trustworthy adult can gain the confidence of teenagers.

And Liane does something I particularly enjoy: she doesn't turn these issues into a lecture. They're woven into people's lives. There are serious things happening, but people are still worrying about their marriages, their children, their bodies, their friends, their social lives and what everyone else thinks of them. There is plenty of humour alongside the darker material. Madeline, in particular, remains gloriously Madeline.

I loved being back with these characters and seeing what ten years had done to them. 

The Calamity Club

I loved being swept into the world of The Calamity Club. Kathryn Stockett (also the author of The Help) brings Depression-era Mississippi vividly to life, with characters who are funny, flawed, heartbreaking and impossible not to care about. I particularly enjoyed the alternating perspectives of Birdie and Meg, and the way their stories gradually intertwine.

If you're into audiobooks, this is the one to get. The reader is excellent.

It’s a long book, but I never found myself wishing it were shorter. There’s warmth and humour alongside the darker realities of poverty, racism and the limited choices available to women. Most of all, I loved the characters and the sense of place. A rich, immersive and thoroughly enjoyable novel.

Enormous Wings

What can I say about "Enorous Wings" by Laurie Frankel that will make you reach for it without knowing anything about it? Without reading the blurb even?

How about this: I love books by this author. The characters are always quirky, the issues meaty, and the plots unexpected.

If that's not enough, scroll down for almost-spoilers.

This is such an unusual, thought-provoking book. It takes a premise that sounds almost impossible and uses it to explore some very real questions about family, ageing, choice and who gets to make decisions about our lives.

I particularly enjoyed the mix of serious themes with humour. It never felt like a heavy-handed social issues novel; there’s plenty of warmth, eccentricity and humanity in the characters. It also made me think about some questions I’m not sure have easy answers — always a good sign for me.

A clever, unusual and surprisingly funny read, with plenty to think about after you’ve finished it.

Summerland Cove

I loved getting immersed in the atmosphere of Summerland Cove. Ellen Baker evokes the Maine setting beautifully: the rocky coast, summer cottages and that slightly timeless feeling of a family returning to the same place year after year.

At the heart of the story is a family gathering for a summer of celebrations, until Lindy's husband disappears on the day of his 50th birthday. As the family searches for him, old secrets start surfacing.

This is less a traditional thriller than a character-driven family mystery, with three generations of women and all their complicated relationships, regrets and secrets.

A beautifully atmospheric read. I really enjoyed spending time in Summerland Cove.

Can't wait for the sequel! 

An interview about "Welcome to Perfectville"

This is a long and hopefully interesting look into the questions that led me to my version of Perfecville. Read it here.

"The Killer Question" by Janice Hallett

Janice Hallett is a dare-devil. And a clever cookie.

Who else writes an entire murder mystery using only texts, emails, transcripts, and still makes it this gripping? It shouldn’t work as well as it does... and it really, really does.

The setup is deceptively cosy. Sue and Mal Eastwood retire early and take over a rural pub, The Case is Altered, and bring it back to life with a weekly pub quiz. You get to know the regular teams through scoresheets, categories, bits of conversation. It’s all very low-key, quirky, British.

There’s even that one team member who complains about everything every single week, and the running joke that the quizmaster is always right, even when he’s clearly wrong.

And then a body turns up in the river behind the pub.

From there, things start to shift. A new team arrives, The Shadow Knights, and begins winning every week, unsettling the regulars and changing the whole dynamic. The second half of the book goes somewhere I didn’t expect at all. It gets twisty, but still grounded in that same clever format.

I love pub quizzes, and I really loved this book.

It's Not What You Think

"It's Not What You Think" by Clare Mackintosh is an excellent book. I couldn’t put it down. It's he kind of book where you tell yourself one more chapter and suddenly it’s well past midnight.

I went in expecting a fairly straightforward psychological thriller. Instead, I got something a bit sharper, a bit more self-aware. The story keeps nudging you into forming opinions. About what’s happening, about who to trust. And then quietly pulls the rug. 

I loved Nadeeka and Lauren. They’re not perfect characters, which is exactly why they work. There were moments I didn’t agree with them, moments I questioned them, but I never disengaged. 

What stayed with me is the sense of unease running under everything. It’s a clever reminder that perspective is slippery, and that we’re often far more certain than we should be.

I read it quickly, but it’s the kind of book that lingers a little afterwards, making you replay moments and wonder what you missed the first time.

Smart, addictive, and just a bit unsettling in the best way.