The Last Anniversary

Liane Moriarty is a Sydney-based novelist born in 1966. She is one of Australia’s most successful novelists. While pursuing a career in advertising and marketing, including copywriting, Moriarty obtained a master’s degree in creative writing from Macquarie University in Sydney; her first novel, Three Wishes, was written as part of her degree and was published in 2004. Moriarty has written nine novels in total, all at least partially set in her hometown of Sydney. Moriarty’s novels are partly “regional fiction” because of the centrality of their settings to the stories: They draw on recognizable landmarks, and the city’s architecture, culture, diversity, and history inform many of Moriarty’s themes.

All of Moriarty’s novels focus on the conflicts that arise from intense network relationships, combining tropes from the mystery and romance genres. Her protagonists tend to be women in their 30s who are shown managing the multiple demands of families, romantic relationships, careers, friendships, and personal satisfaction. Moriarty’s novels often depict privileged white women who explicitly debate questions relevant to white feminism from a socially privileged perspective. For instance, many of them are balancing families and careers, but this balancing act is made easier by high-paying careers, husbands with high-paying careers, considerable “villages” of nearby supportive family and friends, and social safety nets.