After I finished tearing through Big Little Lies a few months ago, my friend Amy told me that she had just done the same, and now couldn’t stop reading all of Liane Moriarty’s back catalog. Armed with her suggestions re: which ones were good and which ones not-so-great, I bought a bunch of them on Kindle and took off on my vacation. The first one I uploaded was The Last Anniversary, which is one of her first novels.
Adorable Sophie is nearing forty, and starting to panic because she’s single and has no prospects. She always thought she’d have plenty of time to meet someone and have a baby. What if she made a mistake in dumping her almost-fiance Thomas? He had seemed like the perfect boyfriend, but she never really felt a spark, and always imagined that someone better would come along. But now Thomas is married and has his own baby, and Sophie is starting to panic.
When Thomas calls her, out of the blue, to mention that his elderly aunt had died and had left her gorgeous island home to Sophie, she isn’t quite sure what to do. Thomas’ family all have beautiful homes on a private island outside of Sydney, and Sophie would love to live there. Such a gorgeous and tranquil location, and such a beautiful and comfortable home.
Sophie moves in, and then starts to learn all of the secrets of the island and Thomas’ family, including his grandmother Enigma, a local celebrity. When Enigma was a baby, she was found abandoned in her home on the island. Both parents vanished, the tea kettle steaming, and a cake cooking on the counter. Found by two of Thomas’ great-aunts and raised as their own sister, Enigma became an Australian sensation. And the family has been living off of that mystery ever since. Tourists continue to flock to the island, year after year, to see the museum the family has created.
And every year, they throw a huge party on the anniversary of Enigma’s discovery.
Because this is written by Liane Moriarty, you just know there’s going to be more to the story than that. And this one — although not as entertaining as Big Little Lies — certainly doesn’t disappoint. I look forward to catching up with the rest of Moriarty’s bibliography (except for maybe The Hypnotist’s Love Story…that doesn’t seem to be such a winner among the Cannonballers).
