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Liane Moriarty is an Australian novelist known for standalone stories that circle domestic life, friendship groups, marriages, and the secrets people keep in plain sight. Her adult novels do not form a continuing series, so you won’t get lost by reading out of order.

Order still helps for one reason: her books often rely on carefully timed reveals. Publication order protects those surprises and shows how her style shifts over time.
Reading order in 30 seconds
- Most dependable entry point: The Husband’s Secret (classic Moriarty structure and escalation)
- If you want the cultural touchstone: Big Little Lies
- If you prefer a contained “one location” setup: Nine Perfect Strangers
- If you just want the newest: Here One Moment
No matter where you start, you’re choosing a complete story.
Adult novels in publication order
Each line below is written fresh for this guide and focuses on what makes the book a useful “next read.”
- Three Wishes (2004): Triplet sisters reach a breaking point, and the family truths they’ve dodged start landing all at once.
- The Last Anniversary (2005): A woman inherits a house on a secretive island where every neighbor seems to know more than they admit.
- What Alice Forgot (2009): A memory gap forces a woman to meet her own life as if it belongs to someone else.
- The Hypnotist’s Love Story (2011): A new romance comes with a stalker-shaped shadow, and curiosity turns into risk.
- The Husband’s Secret (2013): A sealed letter meant for “after I’m gone” detonates multiple lives in slow, inevitable steps.
- Big Little Lies (2014): School-gate friendships, social performance, and private violence converge on a night everyone will reinterpret forever.
- Truly Madly Guilty (2016): A backyard gathering becomes a hinge point, and the fallout rewrites a friendship triangle.
- Nine Perfect Strangers (2018): Nine guests arrive at a wellness retreat hoping to be fixed, and discover the cost of surrendering control.
- Apples Never Fall (2021): A high-functioning family fractures when their mother disappears and the stories they tell about each other stop matching up.
- Here One Moment (2024): A single flight turns uncanny when a stranger assigns futures, and everyone must decide what to do with that information.
Title note: Some editions rename Big Little Lies as Little Lies. It’s the same novel.
Do any of these have a “chronological” order?
Not really. These adult novels are separate stories, so there’s no internal timeline to follow. If you want an orderly experience, publication order is the only order that consistently adds value.
A practical “what should I read next?” path
If you’d like a route that balances accessibility and payoff:
- The Husband’s Secret (best demonstration of her reveal structure)
- Big Little Lies (wider cast, higher tension, bigger social lens)
- Apples Never Falls** (family-focused, long-buried resentment, modern pacing)
- Nine Perfect Strangers (contained setting, ensemble pressure cooker)
- Here One Moment (newer direction, fate-vs-choice emphasis)
- Circle back to the earlier standalones whenever you want more relationship-driven mystery.
Children’s books
Moriarty has also written a three-book children’s science-fiction adventure series about “Space Brigade,” featuring Nicola Berry. These do benefit from being read in order.
Space Brigade books in order
- The Petrifying Problem with Princess Petronella (first published 2007): A bored school day cracks open into an off-planet mission where Nicola learns leadership is mostly improvisation.
- The Shocking Trouble on the Planet of Shobble (first published 2009): A new world looks beautiful until the brigade spots the system underneath, and decides to interfere.
- The Wicked War on the Planet of Whimsy (first published 2009): The team faces its biggest threat yet, and bravery starts to look like teamwork instead of heroics.
Edition note: Some later editions present these with updated “Nicola Berry” titling, but the story order above stays the same.
Latest release status
- Most recent adult novel currently listed: Here One Moment (2024).
- Next adult novel: widely discussed in entertainment coverage in connection with Big Little Lies, but a standalone, clearly titled next book has not been reliably confirmed in the same way as her published novels.
FAQs
Do I need to read Liane Moriarty in order?
No. Her adult novels are standalone. Order is about protecting twists and reveals, not continuity.
Which book is the safest first try if I’m undecided?
The Husband’s Secret is a steady entry point because it showcases her pacing and moral domino-effect style without requiring any background.
Are there sequels?
Not among the adult novels listed above. Each is built to resolve its own central question.
Calm takeaway
Pick the premise that appeals most and start there. If you want the cleanest “in order” experience, follow publication order, especially from The Husband’s Secret onward, where surprise structure is a big part of the ride.
Frank is the editor of BookSeries.blog, focusing on publication order, chronological timelines, and spoiler-free reading guides for book series and fictional universes.

