Liane Moriarty Reading Order: All Novels Including Here One Moment

Liane Moriarty is Australia’s most commercially successful novelist. Her books sit at the intersection of domestic drama and psychological suspense — stories about ordinary families with extraordinary secrets, told with warmth and wit that makes them easy to read and hard to put down. Three of her novels have been adapted into major streaming productions, turning her into one of the few Australian authors with genuine global name recognition.

She writes standalones — no series, no recurring detective. Every novel is a fresh start, which makes the reading order flexible, though the books published from 2013 onwards represent a significant step up in ambition and scale.

Complete Reading Order

1. Three Wishes (2003)

Moriarty’s debut follows triplets — Lyn, Cat, and Gemma — through a single year of their lives. Domestic, warm, and character-driven. A promising first novel that shows her instinct for family dynamics but none of the suspense she would later develop.

2. The Last Anniversary (2005)

A woman inherits a house on an island connected to an old mystery — a couple who vanished in the 1930s, leaving a baby behind. The island’s family has built a tourist industry around the disappearance for decades. Moriarty’s second novel is lighter and quirkier than what followed, but the puzzle element points forward.

3. What Alice Forgot (2009)

Alice wakes up after a fall at the gym believing she is 29 and blissfully pregnant. She is actually 39, in the middle of a bitter divorce, and a stranger to the person she has apparently become. Moriarty’s breakthrough novel in Australia — the premise is perfect and the execution is warm without being sentimental.

4. The Hypnotist’s Love Story (2011)

A hypnotherapist discovers her new boyfriend is being stalked by his ex-girlfriend — and begins finding the situation fascinating rather than threatening. Moriarty’s most unusual premise. Lighter than her later books, but the dual-perspective structure (including the stalker’s point of view) is done well.

5. The Husband’s Secret (2013)

A woman finds a letter her husband has written to be opened after his death. He’s not dead. She reads it. The fallout from that decision — and the secret it reveals — drives one of Moriarty’s tightest plots. The Husband’s Secret was her first international bestseller and the book that made clear she was operating at a different level.

6. Big Little Lies (2014)

Three women — Madeline, Celeste, and Jane — whose children attend the same school in a wealthy Sydney suburb. A murder at the school’s trivia night. Told through multiple perspectives and a structure of interviews conducted after the fact. Big Little Lies is Moriarty’s most perfectly constructed novel, and the HBO adaptation (Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley) is one of the best screen translations of her work.

7. Truly Madly Guilty (2016)

Three couples at a backyard barbecue. Something happens. The novel keeps you waiting to find out what, while exploring what the event does to each relationship. More introspective than its predecessors; some readers find the pacing slow, but the character work is excellent.

8. Nine Perfect Strangers (2018)

Nine people arrive at a luxury wellness resort in regional Australia run by a charismatic and possibly unhinged director. The retreat is not what it seems. Nine Perfect Strangers is Moriarty at her most propulsive — a slightly absurdist thriller that builds to a genuinely surprising climax. The Hulu adaptation stars Nicole Kidman as the director.

9. Apples Never Fall (2021)

The Delaney family appears to have everything together — successful parents, four adult children, a tennis dynasty. Then their mother disappears and their father becomes a suspect. Apples Never Fall is Moriarty’s longest and most ambitious novel, pulling at family mythology in a way that feels pointed. The Amazon Prime adaptation stars Sam Neill and Annette Bening.

10. Here One Moment (2024)

Her most recent and most unusual novel. A woman on a delayed flight begins telling passengers how and when they will die. Some believe her. Most don’t — until her predictions start coming true. Here One Moment is quieter and stranger than her previous books, less a thriller than a meditation on mortality and chance. It became an immediate bestseller in Australia and the UK.

Where to Start

Start with Big Little Lies — it’s her most polished novel, the premise is immediately gripping, and if you’ve seen the HBO show, you’ll enjoy discovering how much Moriarty packed into the original. It’s also the book that will tell you fastest whether her voice is for you.

Start with The Husband’s Secret if you want something a little more intimate and domestic before committing to the ensemble casts of the later books.

Start with Here One Moment if you’re already a fan and want her most recent and most distinctive work.

Skip Three Wishes and The Last Anniversary unless you’ve already read everything else — they’re early novels that don’t represent what she became.

The TV Adaptations

Novel	Adaptation	Where to Watch
Big Little Lies	HBO (2017, Season 2 in 2019)	Max
Nine Perfect Strangers	Hulu (2021, Season 2 in 2024)	Hulu
Apples Never Fall	Amazon Prime (2024)	Prime Video

All three adaptations are worth watching, though Big Little Lies is the best. Moriarty is involved in the productions, which keeps them close to the source material.

Reading Order Summary

#	Title	Year
1	Three Wishes	2003
2	The Last Anniversary	2005
3	What Alice Forgot	2009
4	The Hypnotist’s Love Story	2011
5	The Husband’s Secret	2013
6	Big Little Lies	2014
7	Truly Madly Guilty	2016
8	Nine Perfect Strangers	2018
9	Apples Never Fall	2021
10	Here One Moment	2024