In Her Sequel to 'Big Little Lies,' Liane Moriarty Shines a Light on Suburban Australia's Dark Side

Bestselling novelist Liane Moriarty recently returned to the Australian beachside setting of perhaps her best-known book, Big Little Lies—later adapted for television by HBO in a series starring Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Alexander Skarsgard, and Meryl Streep, among others—for her first sequel, Big Little Truths. In it, we rejoin the characters of this not-so-sleepy coastal community 10 years later, as they grapple both with more dark intrigue and the challenge of parenting teenagers. Moriarty took some time during the book’s tour to tell us about the role destinations play in her work, how the television series’ vision of her book affected the sequel, and her top Sydney spots for writing and retreating.

“I don't actually think a sense of place is one of my strengths. I find dialogue and character come easily to me, but I'm not somebody who describes scenery particularly well, and I have a very poor memory about anywhere that I've visited. I remember the people that I meet, but I find it hard to remember the actual places, which is why I always set all my books in Australia—I can literally look out the window and see where I am!

But it's interesting to me that even if I've just written a few lines, readers can create a whole picture in their head that’s maybe not necessarily in mine. I love that—it's my imagination working in tandem with theirs. There's not one particular beach that the Pirriwee Peninsula in Big Little Lies and Big Little Truths is based on, for example—but a lot of people think that it’s Avalon Beach, north of Sydney. I describe these two giant pine trees, which are also in Avalon Beach—the surfers climb them to see the surf—and people are so adamant that this is where this is. My second novel, The Last Anniversary, was set on a small island on the Hawkesbury River in New South Wales. I visited an island called Ganga Island, and then I created a fictional island called Scribbly Gum Island, which I know people have actually looked up and contacted the tourism board in Sydney to find out how to get there. I like that the places take on a life outside of my books, like people almost want them to exist so they can go and visit them.

I'm always interested, in the same way that Agatha Christie always wanted to put her characters in an enclosed setting, in putting my characters in small beachside or island communities. For Big Little Lies, I was really interested in those beachside communities where people from all walks of life live. It seemed very particular to them that you can have really wealthy people and also people who are struggling financially and who don't have huge homes with water views, and I just love the fact that they're all suddenly coming together at the local school. It is true to life and the northern beaches of Sydney where I have lived. I use the term “insular peninsula,” because they’re such beautiful places to live that people joke that, especially if they work in the area, they just never leave.

They put the HBO TV adaptation of Big Little Lies in Monterey in California. I was pleased that it was still a coastal town. I wouldn't have liked it if it was suddenly in the Alps, that would have felt wrong. But it was close enough to my town, although I think in the HBO version everybody had a lot more money! There were a lot of beautiful, amazing homes, whereas for me, I really wanted the contrast, so I only had Celeste having a beautiful home. When I wrote Big Little Truths, I talked in the author’s note at the beginning about how I had to give some of the characters—for example, the character of Renata, who was played so magnificently by Laura Dern—a bigger role in this book as a result. But the Californian setting did not affect my writing of the sequel at all; I was back in the Pirriwee Peninsula. With Nine Perfect Strangers, even though it was set in California they actually filmed it in Byron Bay, so I got to visit the set. Some viewers can tell that it's filmed in Australia, because they can hear some of the birdlife. But I think that California is similar enough to my settings that they can get away with it.

Definitely with Big Little Lies and Big Little Truths, the lives of these characters seem amazing, but when you dig deeper there are all these threats. I'm always interested in characters who look like they've got it all together and perhaps they don't, and how real people present themselves to the world versus what's really going on. If you've ever developed a friendship, you might have an instant first impression and then as you get to know them, you realize, oh, actually, they're this sort of person. And in the same way it's interesting to have a really beautiful setting and then explore the dark things that can happen behind closed doors.

One of my favorite authors is Anne Tyler, and she sets all her books in Baltimore. I always thought that she gave me permission to therefore set all my books in Sydney. Unless as my children got older, I could go and live on a Greek island for six months and set the book there! But I bet I would still set it as an Australian doing exactly that; I'd be seeing it through an Australian character's eyes. Because I feel like I'd need to live somewhere for a really long time to be able to write from the perspective of somebody who lived there all their lives.

But a Greek island does sound pretty nice—I went to Santorini in my 20s, a really long time ago now, and I can still see the blue of that water. Everywhere I go, I want to go back to. Just before Covid I did a Scandinavian book tour, and then my family came over and met me, and we went around and did all those countries again.

But usually I tend to just write in my home office. I've got two sisters who are authors and both of them like to go to cafés and write on their laptops. My sister, the author Jacqueline Moriarty, works in a particularly beautiful chocolate shop, which is also a café and looks really magical, and her books often do have a magical side to them. But for me, the only thing I do is go to Hobart in Tasmania, where my husband's from. I like to go there to write and actually I did set some of Here One Moment there. I got out of Sydney, briefly! Because Hobart is the only place I've spent enough time to feel that I could do that. There’s a bit of a writing community in Hobart, and I heard one author saying she thinks there are stories in the water there. But I just love it because it's a really peaceful place to write.”

Liane Moriarty's guide to Sydney

Favorite district: “I love anywhere around the harbor; the botanical gardens are a beautiful place to go. Every summer in January they have an outdoor cinema; the screen comes up out of the harbor, and to sit there and see the lights and watch a movie and have a cocktail with your friends, we always say, ‘why would you live anywhere else?’”

Best beaches: “Anywhere along the northern beaches. We grew up going to Avonka Beach, which is about an hour north of Sydney. In Here One Moment I talked about going camping near Boca Beach, and Balmoral Beach closer to the city is another favorite. “

Best spa or retreat: “I went to one in the north of Sydney called the Golden Door when I was researching Nine Perfect Strangers. It’s in a beautiful bush setting, but they do not offer hallucinogens like in the book!”

Favorite hotel: “The Shangri-La in Sydney is a wonderful place to stay, with beautiful views of the harbor.”

Best coffee spot: “We're very proud of our coffee in Sydney, and so we make a big deal of it—I always feel like whenever I go overseas, I'm just meeting fellow Australians complaining about the coffee. Kirribilli is a lovely place to get coffee, on the harbor with views of the opera house.”

This article was originally published on Condé Nast Traveller UK.