Reading My Christmas Gifts

The Husband’s Secret, by Liane Moriarty

G.P. Putnam’s Son, 2013

The lives of three families are intertwined and forever changed by a tragic incident that occurred years before in this offering by Australian author, Liane Moriarty. 

Cecilia Fitzpatrick, a highly successful Tupperware representative and mother to three talented daughters, is living a well-ordered, dream life.  Her handsome husband loves his family, has a successful job and hides a horrible secret.

Rachel, an efficient school secretary, a doting grandmother and a grieving mother, lost her only daughter years ago under mysterious circumstances.  While Rachel appears to have it all together, her unresolved questions about her daughter's death fester under her placid exterior and threaten to erupt with tragic results.

Tess’ marriage is torn apart when husband Will falls for Tess’ best friend and cousin, Felicity.  Tess takes her young son and moves in with her mother in Sydney and falls into a relationship with an old boyfriend who may be a murderer.

The three families’ interwoven situations emerge, as different chapters introduce their lives and secrets, until their stories become one and the book races to its climax.

Moriarty successfully uses multiple perspectives to tell the story.  I wasn’t fond of the characters initially, finding them to be clichéd (wronged wife, grieving mother) and, for this reason, the book gets off to a slow start but eventually becomes a page turner.  The plot has multiple twists and turns as the truth is slowly revealed. 

In the end, there are some surprises when  the author shares secrets that only she knows—explaining the past and the mistakes that were made, telling the reader what would have happened if the circumstances had been slightly different, and revealing what the future holds for some characters.