Big Little Lies: Liane Moriarty's Novel vs the HBO Series

Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies (2014) was already a bestseller when HBO turned it into a prestige drama in 2017. The adaptation starred Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, and Shailane Woodley, won eight Emmy Awards, and made Moriarty one of the most sought-after names in television adaptation. A second season followed in 2019.

The Novel

Set in a wealthy beachside community in Australia, Big Little Lies follows three women — Madeline, Celeste, and Jane — whose children attend the same primary school. The novel opens with a dead body at a school trivia night and works backwards to explain how it got there.

Moriarty’s strength is character comedy with a dark current running underneath. The surface of Big Little Lies is suburban satire — competitive parents, school gate politics, the performance of happy marriages — and the darkness underneath is domestic abuse, sexual assault, and the cost of keeping secrets.

The novel is structured with police and witness interview transcripts interspersed throughout, creating dramatic irony: readers know someone dies long before they know who or why.

The HBO Series

Season 1 (2017), directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, transplants the setting from Australia to Monterey, California. The core plot is faithful; the visual palette — Pacific coast, glass houses, spectacular scenery — does work the Australian setting would have done differently.

What the series adds: The male characters, particularly Celeste’s husband Perry (Alexander Skarsgård), are given more screen time than the novel provides. This is largely an improvement — the violence in the marriage is depicted with a directness that the novel approaches through Celeste’s interiority.

What changes: The Australian setting is lost. Moriarty’s specific observation of Australian school gate culture and Australian class anxiety is replaced with American equivalents. The novel’s comedy is somewhat softer in the translation.

Season 2 (2019): No source novel. David E. Kelley wrote original material continuing the characters after Season 1’s ending. Moriarty was a producer but the script is entirely original. Season 2 is less critically praised than Season 1 — the tightness of the adapted structure is gone.

Moriarty’s Other Novels

Moriarty writes standalone domestic thrillers with a similar formula: a community, a secret, an event that forces it into the open. Her other notable novels:

• Nine Perfect Strangers (2018) — nine strangers at a wellness retreat; adapted by Hulu (2021) with Nicole Kidman as the resort director

• The Husband’s Secret (2013) — a woman finds a letter from her husband not to be opened until after his death

• What Alice Forgot (2009) — a woman wakes with no memory of the last ten years of her marriage

Nine Perfect Strangers (Hulu, 2021) is the other major adaptation — eight episodes, also starring Nicole Kidman, Regina George, and Melissa McCarthy. The adaptation is weaker than Big Little Lies — the novel’s satirical edge is lost in favour of celebrity spectacle.

Reading Order

All Moriarty’s novels are standalone. There’s no continuity between them.

If you’ve seen the HBO series: read the novel — it’s fast, funny, and the Australian setting gives it a different flavour. Then try Nine Perfect Strangers before the Hulu series. Or go backwards: The Husband’s Secret is underrated and pre-dates both major adaptations.