Add these 5 contemporary fiction novels to your reading list if you loved Liane Moriarty’s novel, Big Little Lies!
Discovering Liane Moriarty’s work was instrumental in getting me back into the groove of reading regularly once I emerged from the haze of new motherhood. Her writing is enthralling and intriguing and keeps me turning the pages from the very start of a book.
Liane Moriarty Books Adapted for the Screen
Liane Moriarty has had a handful of book-to-screen deals.
What Alice Forgot, the book that introduced me to Moriarty, was acquired for film adaptation with Jennifer Aniston as the potential lead. Truly Madly Guilty is being adapted as a feature film by Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman. And Nine Perfect Strangers is said to be in the works staring Nicole Kidman and Melissa McCarthy.
The first of Liane Moriarty’s books to make it to the screen, however, was Big Little Lies. And it was a smash hit as an HBO series.
Big Little Lies has a wide-spread and enthusiastic following. And it’s no surprise if you’ve read the juicy, scandalous novel.
If you read Big Little Lies and now you’re hungry for more reading material, here are five other books you should check out.
Books Like Big Little Lies
Bookshop.org is an online bookseller that supports local independent bookstores. At the writing of this post, they have raised over $4 million for local bookshops! I’ve included affiliate links to their site for the books featured in this post.
Little Fires Everywhere
Author: Celeste Ng
Similarities to BLL: Drama between well-to-do parents & their kids, family scandals, legal drama.
Summary: When a single mother artist, Mia Warren, and her teenage daughter move to the well-to-do white suburbs, the Richardson’s perfectly predictable and privileged world is thrown off kilter. The Warren’s seem to live by a different set of rules and values – ones that challenge the morals of the Richardson family and their play-by-the-rules community.
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The Gifted School
Author: Bruce Holsinger
Similarities to BLL: Drama between well-to-do parents & their kids, school scandals.
Summary: Friendship bonds are put to the test as a group of upper middle class parents wrestles with their feelings over the plans for an exclusive public school for gifted children. Lines between personal ambitions and competitiveness and wanting the best for their children are blurred as parents get caught up in the application process.
The Most Fun We Ever Had
Author: Claire Lombardo
Similarities to BLL: Family scandal and dark secrets.
Summary: Tensions come to a head in the dramatic fallout of one sister meddling in another’s affairs and dredging up the past. The relationship dynamics are slowly, heartwarmingly/heartbreakingly explained through the course of the story as we learn more and more about the intertwined experiences of each family member.
The Fifth Letter
Author: Nicola Moriarty
Similarities to BLL: Complicated female friendships & dark secrets
Summary: Four long-time friends grow apart as life changes with marriages, careers, and babies entering the picture. The women gather for a beach vacation and some time to reconnect, but things turn dark when they have a few glasses of wine and agree to write anonymous letters sharing some of their deepest, darkest secrets.
Where’d You Go Bernadette
Author: Maria Semple
Similarities to BLL: Well-to-do parents, school drama, and a hidden past.
Summary: Notoriously competent and accomplished Bernadette Fox is falling apart. After horribly bungling a school fundraiser, she disappears, leaving her husband and teenage daughter to clean up her mess. While investigating her mother’s disappearance, Bee discovers a secret past Bernadette has been hiding for decades.
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