Liane Moriarty: 'We're all capable of things that are breathtakingly cruel'

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/22/liane-moriarty-little-big-lies-books

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Although Liane Moriarty has published six books, she’s only recently become an international bestseller. The Husband’s Secret topped lists in the US in 2013, and now Big Little Lies (Little Lies in the UK) is receiving advance buzz on both sides of the Atlantic.

Moriarty’s novels Three Wishes, The Last Anniversary, and The Hypnotist’s Love Story offered wry takes on modern life, even when the stakes were high, as did What Alice Forgot, in which a woman’s amnesia winds up having a positive effect on her ailing marriage.

But with The Husband’s Secret, Moriarty explores more serious issues, including hit-and-run deaths, marital miscommunication, and a parent’s grief. Not all of her readers were pleased with the author’s more serious tone. “I had one gentleman ask me when I was going to go back to writing my funny books,” she says. “He seemed quite cross with me for trying something different.”

That gentleman may be even more cross with Big Little Lies. It’s a multiple-perspective novel about schoolyard bullying, malicious gossip, and domestic violence. While Moriarty’s signature humor does bubble up occasionally (what elementary-school parent will not recognize the “blonde bobs,” those well-coiffed types who dominate PTA meetings?) she doesn’t shy away from describing a husband’s cold-blooded beating of his wife, a callous hotel date rape, or casual, vicious sniping that excludes a lonely young mother from a community.

Moriarty may or may not be playing a deliberate hand in writing tough material, but doing so definitely places her in the company of her contemporaries who do. And they are an illustrious bunch: Jodi Picoult covered spouse abuse in Picture Perfect; Cara Hoffman wrote about sexual violence in the military in Be Safe I Love You; Chris Bohjalian’s Secrets of Eden tells the tale of a wife who keeps things too quiet. In Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, a woman’s injuries at her husband’s hands are detailed through the eyes of a young man who loves her.

Moriarty, who lives in Sydney with her husband and two children, spoke to me by telephone across the time zones.

Big Little Lies might be described as a book about bullying in all its forms. Does that resonate with you?

LM: I didn’t set out to write a book about bullying, but when I looked back, that’s what was about: bullying in the schoolyard, gossiping and bitchiness, and the evil of domestic violence in its spectrum. Often I think bullying –especially in its adult, verbal forms – is the sort of thing you don’t realize till the end of the day, and it’s a horrible feeling to realize something wasn’t just a bland statement, but was actually cruel. But then we’re all capable of of things that are breathtakingly cruel.

How did you go about researching domestic violence for this book?

I read two really good books with lots of case studies in them; they’re mentioned in my acknowledgements. I would occasionally look at my husband and say “Oh, you men!” The good thing about writing a novel is that you’re creating an imaginary world and can take a break when you need to.

What inspired Big Little Lies?

There were two minor sparks of inspiration. The first happened when I was on tour here in Australia, and one of the two writer friends I often tour with was Ber Carroll, a lovely Irish author. She was spending every spare minute searching online for accessories to wear to a school trivia night with the theme of “Audrey and Elvis.” She became obsessed with trying to get the right pearls! I thought that would be a lot of fun visually, and a good anchor for the events of the book.

The second was a girlfriend’s story about finding bite marks on her kindergarten daughter’s forearms. She kept asking her: “Who did this to you?” Finally the little girl admitted she’d done it to herself, which is admittedly comic, but what stuck with me was the drama of finding evidence of harm on your child.

But the real impetus, the hardest thing, and one I think I haven’t mentioned to anyone yet, is a radio interview I heard in which a woman was talking about how her father had abused her mother, the trauma of it. Towards the end of the interview, she described returning home as a grown woman and going to hide under the bed when her parents began to argue. Everything that that signified about the kind of childhood she’d had spoke to me. I wound up using that scene in this novel.

This novel centers around a primary school, Pirriwee public school. Is it a typical one? How does a community like this differ from one in the US or the UK?

It’s a little bit of a dream school! I used to live by the sea, but I don’t now, so putting Pirriwee seaside was a dream for me as well as my readers. The community is different from the one in The Husband’s Secret. St Angela’s is a small Catholic school with a very tight-knit community – it has to be, because of the plot! In Pirriwee peninsula there’s a tension between the locals who have been there forever and the people who are moving in and changing things.

Speaking of the US, what has it been like for you to be a huge new bestselling author there?

There are so many books – I feel very grateful to be noticed. American readers are so polite; their reactions make it seem like I’ve received thousands of thank-you notes. It’s just lovely, and amazing the things people tell you that have touched them and related to their own lives. Many people talk to me about their own experiences of infertility, their own marriages …

What are the differences between Australian mums and American moms?

I see lots of differences between Australians and Americans – but as mothers, I think we’re pretty much alike! There is one thing about our children that’s different: Americans go away to summer camp. We don’t do that. I recently read The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer, which starts at a summer camp, and I think it must be quite good for children to have that experience.

Can you tell us anything about your next book?

I’ve been making this joke that my next book is going to be set on a tropical island; I’d need to do lots of research. Then I thought: why not, actually? That could work! I’ve actually come up with an idea that would take place on a tropical island...