“Truly Madly Guilty”

Three couples get together for a barbecue on a Sunday evening in Sydney. What happens during this social event will change the lives of all three couples and their relationships with each other.

Liane Moriarty has written two major best selling novels over the course of the last several years.  “Big Little Lies” and “The Husband’s Secret” deal with middle-class families living in the suburbs of Sydney, Australia.  Like in these two previous novels,  an important event will occur in “Truly Madly Guilty” that over the course of the plot is slowly revealed.

Erica and Clementine have known each other since they were children.  Clementine is now married to Sam, and they have two small girls.  Clementine is a cellist and Sam is in advertising.  Erica is married to Oliver.  They have no children. Erica always said she didn’t want children.  They  both are accountants.  The third couple in the story is Vic and Tiffany, who are fairly wealthy.  Vic has been married before and he has two daughters from his first wife. Vic and Tiffany have one child–a ten year old named Dakota.  Vic and Tiffany are not close friends of the other couples, but they love parties.  When they invite their neighbors Erica and Oliver to an impromptu barbecue, Erica suggests she bring along Sam and Clementine.

As the reader slowly learns about the events of that Sunday afternoon, the history of these six people is revealed.  All have their secrets.  These secrets coupled with their actions and reactions on that afternoon, will change all their lives.

Moriarty keeps the reader in suspense about what happened that afternoon.  All the details are not revealed until almost the end of the story.  Fans of her previous novels will enjoy this exploration of how relationships between friends work and don’t work.