The Husband's Secret

Short Simple Book Summary: This book is based in Australia and focuses on three separate families (and more specifically – the women who are predominant in each of three families). The story is based upon one of the women (of the 3 families) who discovers a letter her husband left for her to open upon his death. The curve ball here is the wife finds the letter, on accident, prior to her husband’s death. The story describes her life (as well as the other 2 families involved) and how the finding of this letter evolves and effects everyone in the book. It is a story of the past meeting with the present, the repercussions of decisions and indecision and of self discovery.What I liked (LOVED) about this book: In a few words – almost everything. To be more specific; I loved the writing style which was clean, concise, well edited and well structured. I enjoyed the characterization. The author has a very thorough knowledge and understanding of her creations. Some make think this is a simple minded and ill suited point to make, however I’ve read quite a few books where it felt like the author didn’t know their subjects and simply didn’t know/write enough about them to make them interesting, hateful, or evoke any other emotion because they were simply sketched as opposed to completely formed. These characters feel like real people who you may know due to the careful and attentive description the author immerses the readers in. We know their inner most thoughts, their ticks, what they enjoy, dislike, what holds them together, and ultimately, what can tear them apart.The author weaves past and present together along with three separate people/families (and several primary secondary persons) expertly, meshing plot points but not in a fashion where it feels as if there is an information nugget being force fed because it is required for story progression…but rather because it is just the flow of a well told story.We see the three separate group of lives fully developed in their own right and then the strands that tie them, however tenuous, together begin to gather strength and weight which holds up a well crafted and thought provoking story overflowing with emotional and raw grittiness, humor, fragility, intellect and many other delightful facets. Eventually those tenuous strands linking them together aren’t as delicate as one may initially perceive and begin to form together in both expected and unexpected ways.The book shows comedy and tragedy, paths of self discovery, love and hate and the full range of human emotion. The stories are heart rending and devastating and also redeeming. There is so much to this book that I didn’t expect and I truly can’t praise it enough. I tore through this and didn’t want to put it down. I experienced some extremely strong emotional reactions in many places. Emotions reserved for true stories. Rarely has a work of fiction made me FEEL as this book did. I would suggest it to anyone. I truly dreaded the ending even as I anticipated learning the outcome(s). I will certainly read this book again. So very enjoyable.I never heard of this author prior to this book but if her other works are half as good as this she will have a devoted new reader.I can’t pretend that I didn’t figure out some elements of what was coming before having it revealed but it didn’t detract from the reading experience for me at all. The ebb and flow is so perfect and the details so rich and full I never felt like I missed anything, was cheated, or that feeling you sometimes get where you, “AH HA!”, at the author when you see the direction of the story. It was perfectly mapped out and there was still much to learn and know even when the larger plot point was picked up on early on in the tale. This isn’t a thriller or a mystery, it’s a beautiful tragic story about life, relationships, love and discovering or rediscovering (reclaiming?) yourself.I highly suggest this book. It was an amazing reading experience and I never once scanned while reading the book, which is huge for me. I was captivated the entire time and feel (this will sound very cheesy) better for having read this book. It would have been a shame to pass on this gem. It is for sure one of the best books I’ve read in the last several years and I read on average about 4 new books a week.Excellent book even if some of the ending I couldn’t imagine occurring as it did! (But if you stop after reading the book and play those scenarios and thoughts out the book has you continuing the story after the final page and THAT, in my opinion, is one of the signs of a great story!What I didn’t like: my husband interrupted several times while reading this book for trivial matters such as sleep and food consumption. I hated to waste the time doing these mundane requirements when I could have been devouring this wonderful work.I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Please take a chance on this one if you are on the fence.5 enthusiastic – whole hearted - stars!

I loved all of Liane Moriarty's previous books, and was therefore very excited to find out that her latest novel was available for download from Amazon. It quickly solved my dilemma of the dreadfully difficult decision of which book on my looooooong tbr list to read next (maybe if I was as organised as Cecilia I would have a better system than the eeny-meeny-miny-mo method I usually employ, coupled with much nail-biting and doubt over my final decision). And The Husband's Secret did not disappoint - Moriarty's gift of making her characters almost real flesh-and-blood people, coupled with the offer of an unexpected roster day off from work, made for an intense read-a-thon which saw me finishing this book in a few hours of sheer reading bliss.From the premise of the novel to the very last detail of its execution The Husband's Secret had me totally in its grip and still causes some soul searching even now after the last page has been turned. What would you do if you found a letter written to you by your husband years ago, marked "to be opened in the event of my death"? Cecilia of course wants to do the right thing - she is the queen of proper decision-making (no eeny-meeny-miny-mo for her), and decides to ask her husband John-Paul about it first. His reaction is so baffling that for once Cecilia does give in to temptation - and opens the letter. Its contents are so startling, so mind-blowing that her life, and that of their three daughters, can never be the same again. No matter of organising, smoothing-over or patching-up will ever fix this mess, and for the first time in her life Cecilia finds herself totally out of her depth.Told in the third-person narrative, the book's chapters are written from the perspective of three different people, who are seemingly unconnected in the beginning of the novel.Tess, part owner and operator of a small advertising agency in Melbourne and mother of a six-year old son, has little idea of how her life is about to change when her husband and her cousin take her aside in the middle of her favourite TV show to confess that they have fallen in love. Feeling betrayed and heartbroken she takes her son and flees to Sydney under the guise of helping her mother cope after breaking her ankle. It is there that she runs into an ex-boyfriend she last saw when she was nineteen, and who is still very attracted to her.Rachel, who after twenty-eight years is still mourning the tragic death of her teenage daughter Janie, is having to face losing her beloved grandson when her son and daughter-in-law announce their planned move to New York. This decision, coupled with the imminent anniversary of Janie's death, brings back renewed feelings of loss and grief for Rachel, who contemplates a lonely life on her own in Sydney.Through Cecilia and the startling revelation in John-Paul's letter these three women's lives become intertwined in ways none of them could have imagined.I loved the premise of the book, the question of "what if" which seems to have become a popular theme in modern literature. Perhaps because every one of us at some stage in our lives will ask this question: "What if I had acted differently? How would my life have changed?" Moriarty answers this existential question perfectly in her epilogue, bringing together all the threads of the story and presenting a very satisfying finale - but enough said, there will be no spoilers from me.Inspired by real-life death-bed confessions, Moriarty's novel raises a lot of moral and ethical questions of what constitutes "the right thing". I may have been quite black-and-white in my answer prior to reading this novel, but vacillated constantly between different answers as several angles were explored. I may be a terrible decision maker, but in the face of such controversy, even the super organised Cecilia never stood a chance (of course she had a lot more to lose as well). And just when you may have thought that "the right thing" is pretty clear, the author challenges it with some startling revelations at the very end of the book. Amazing.What I also love about Moriarty's writing is the authenticity of her characters. All three main protagonists are the women-next-door, the mothers you see at the school gates, the members of your bookclub or the people standing in front of you in the supermarket queue. It brings the events unfolding even closer to home, thinking that this could happen to anyone, at any time. I had such vivid pictures in my mind of all characters involved that their personalities, their families and their homes seemed like I had seen them in real life. Perhaps the only thing I missed in this novel was the tongue-in-cheek humour found in "What Alice Forgot", which still makes it my favourite Moriarty book to-date.Apart from secrets kept and secrets exposed, marriage and motherhood feature as strongly in The Husband's Secret as in previous novels. As a mother, decisions no longer involve just a single person, but have grave outcomes on the people you love most."You're a mother. You'd do anything for your children, just like I'd do anything for mine. "Would I, or wouldn't I? If it involved my own children, yes, I probably would. Regardless of moral and ethical dilemmas, like a lioness protecting her cub I wouldn't hesitate to defend my young. And this is where it becomes tricky of course.Enough said. I loved this book. I fully recommend it. Go and buy it and see for yourself. If you enjoyed Moriarty's previous novels, you will not be disappointed.

This is the third book I have read by Liane Moriarty. I love a fast-paced thriller, but usually don’t bond much with the characters. By contrast, her books always have heart, extensive character development, and the drama tends to be much more about relationships and choices made, and unmade rather than gory details… Though there are still plenty of those.Reading her books, I’m always reaching for something light and fast-paced to get me out of a reading lull and her depth and insight mixed with intrigue are a pleasant bonus.I do feel that the characters in all of her books are very similar, but it doesn’t detract from how layered and real they seem. I’d also say that there are moments in this book when it feels a bit out of touch from a white perspective and I would love to see her have a few characters of color.Great read.

An absolute cracker of a book. I really didn't know what to expect when I started reading it but I was hooked from page one and couldn't put it down until the very last page had been turned.Central to the story are three women: There is Cecelia Fitzpatrick married to the handsome John-Paul Fitzpatrick and they have three beautiful young daughters, Isabelle, Esther and Polly. Tess is married to Will O'Leary and they have a six year old son called Liam. Tess has a cousin, Felicity, who is more like a Siamese twin to her and they have an extremely strong bond. Finally there is Rachel whose 17 year old daughter, Janie, had been cruelly murdered 28 years before with no one ever being arrested for the murder and an open verdict delivered at the inquest. Rachel has a son, Rob, who is married to Lauren and they have a 2 year old son, Jacob, who is the light of Rachel's life.After Cecelia accidentally finds a letter addressed to her from John-Paul, which had obviously been written some years previously, saying 'only to be opened in the event of my death' her well ordered life completely spirals out of control and lives of these three wonderful women became inextricably entwined in an absolutely cracking plot.I won't say any more expect to say how thoroughly I enjoyed this book and how I highly recommend it.Excellent stuff.

I really like Lianne’s books, although I find the many characters a bit confusing to start with, however the intricacies of the story all unfold in such a way that you have to keep reading until the end, with interest. This one shows that there is always a payback.Really enjoyed it.

Ignore the bad reviews!! Anyway, it's horses for courses, isn't it? I am hyper critical when it comes to books, but I have to say I really enjoyed this one. No, it's not "literature", but a damned good read, written in a very different style that keeps you wanting to leap from chapter to chapter. I found the characters quite real, actually, not stereotypes at all, and I had some sympathy with all of them (well, bar one - see next paragraph).Why have I given it only 4 stars? Because, like others, I found the ending rather rushed - but don't you find that so many authors struggle at this point? As if they just don't know how to finish. And the one character on whom the whole pack of cards lies, who I wanted to smack, well, I don't want to give anything away .....

Did not live up to all the blurb. It is a pretty easy read but the plot is creaky and predictable, the writing lacks substance. The characters, especially the Husband, are thinly painted and sometimes unbeleivable. Occasional funny bits but on the whole not an author I would wish to return to.

I 've just finished this book and I have enjoyed the characters and story line. It has a lovely pace. The authors talent of ensuring you are completely drawn in to the saga is prevalent. Would recommend to anyone who enjoys a good page turner with plenty going on.