REVIEW: BIG LITTLE LIES, BY LIANE MORIARTY

In Pirriwee, a beautiful little Australian village on a peninsula by the sea, a lovely school seems an unlikely place for the cauldron that is brewing.

It all comes to a climax on Trivia Night, a costume-like event that is a fundraiser, but also a finale for the storms that have been brewing since the beginning of the school year.

One little boy. A charge of bullying. A petition that has been circling. Secret domestic violence. Cheating. Big secrets coming to light. These and other conflicts have divided the mothers, the children, and the community.

Three women are the centerpiece of Big Little Lies. At a crossroads, they each have secrets and the lies they tell themselves are even bigger than the ones they tell others. Jane, the new mum, with her adorable boy Ziggy, is hiding horrific secrets about his paternity. Celeste, the beautiful rich mum, whose handsome husband Perry has a hidden dark side, has twins, Josh and Max. And Madeline, the most likable of them all, is sometimes loud, often boisterous, and seems to enjoy conflict. But she is very sad that her fourteen-year-old daughter Abigail has chosen to move in with her dad and his new hippie-like wife Bonnie, completely forgetting that he abandoned them for the first half of her life.

How will the tensions building between the families play out? What will Celeste do about the dangerous secret she is hiding? And how will Madeline deal with the latest foolish prank her daughter has pulled? And will Jane keep running, or can she finally accept the truth she has just realized?

There are peripheral characters, like Harper, referred to as one of the “blond bobs,” seemingly caricatures, but their behavior and attitudes reflect the dangers of the clique-like mentality of the parents in the school. And then there is Renata, a mum whose passion takes on a form of scariness.

The climactic Trivia Night came to a smashing conclusion, and even though I already knew many of the secrets by then, more came crashing down around the characters like a stunning blow. Nothing would ever be the same again for the community. But would some good come from the events, a healing kind of balm? The story had a hopeful ending, which I loved. If I could, I would grant ten stars to this book. 5.0 stars.