The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty
Buy The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Women's Fiction
Reviewer: Zoe Page
Summary: A secret is revealed ahead of schedule and changes the lives of three women forever in this heartwarming story that you won't want to put down.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 416	Date: August 2013
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 978-1405911665
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Cecelia, Tess and Rachel are three women spread across the generations, and spread across Australia. At first glance they have little in common, but as this book progresses, their lives move closer and staggering links appear between the threesome.

Cecelia is a super mum, involved in her community, bringing up three daughters, running a successful business and being the perfect wife to John-Paul. When she uncovers a letter he has written, to be opened in the event of his death, she is intrigued but dismisses it as a moving tribute to her and the girls. His uneasiness at her discovery, however, leads her to wonder if there’s something darker hiding within the sealed envelope.

Tess is another career woman, overcoming obstacles of her own to keep her family business successful and her child happy. But when she discovers the ultimate betrayal she is forced to question everything she has believed to be true about her life and her family. Rachel is an older woman whose role as a grandmother is about to change, dredging up memories of the past in the process. Each woman’s story gets focussed on in turn, keeping the tension high as big reveals are hinted at but then kept hidden for another few chapters.

This book is set in Sydney but at first I thought it was going to be America. I was slightly disappointed that there wasn’t more of Australia featured in the story, because I used to live in Sydney myself and was looking forward to reliving some of my time there through the descriptions. This is certainly not one of those books where the setting is as much of a character as any of the people.

That aside, this book is near faultless. The story builds steadily towards the various revelations, and the mystery of how the characters’ lives are linked, and will become more so, unfolds beautifully. This is the sort of book you won’t want to put down, the sort of book you’ll read standing in a queue for half an hour, even if it means your partner has to stand silently next to you without anyone to talk to because he was silly and didn’t pack a book of his own. With a mix of lead women and an assortment of supporting characters there is bound to be someone with whom you can particularly identify, and I didn’t dislike any of them either, perhaps with the exception of Felicity and that’s sort of a given.

I wondered at times whether the author had taken on too much with the multiple story arcs, pondering whether they could ever intersect in a suitable and satisfying way for the reader, but I needn’t have worried as little snippets here and there suddenly became important and made you understand the interconnections of the various points. I especially adored the epilogue, and think every book should be forced to do what the author did in that as it really leaves you thinking and gave my mind something to chew over now the book was finished.

Highly readable, I would recommend this book as a perfect summer read for a long plane ride or a stretch on a sun lounger as it’s engaging but easy at the same time.

Thanks go to the publishers for supplying this book.

The Midwife's Confession by Diane Chamberlain and The Mill River Recluse by Darcie Chan also both feature long hidden secrets from the past that wreck the future if you like the sound of this one.

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