There were two minor sparks of inspiration. 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. I read two really good books with lots of case studies in them they’re mentioned in my acknowledgements. How did you go about researching domestic violence for this book? But then we’re all capable of of things that are breathtakingly cruel. 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. 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. Moriarty, who lives in Sydney with her husband and two children, spoke to me by telephone across the time zones.īig Little Lies might be described as a book about bullying in all its forms.
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. 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. 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. 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. It’s a multiple-perspective novel about schoolyard bullying, malicious gossip, and domestic violence. That gentleman may be even more cross with Big Little Lies. “He seemed quite cross with me for trying something different.” “I had one gentleman ask me when I was going to go back to writing my funny books,” she says. Not all of her readers were pleased with the author’s more serious tone. But with The Husband’s Secret, Moriarty explores more serious issues, including hit-and-run deaths, marital miscommunication, and a parent’s grief.
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