Big Little Truths

Returning to Pirriwee ten years after the events of Big Little Lies, Liane Moriarty's Big Little Truths is at its best when it simply lets us spend time with its women.

Moriarty writes these friendships with warmth, humor, and honesty, and the characters feel like real people who have aged and changed rather than returning favorites frozen in place.

Although the book starts with a mystery and is marketed as a thriller/suspense, readers looking for fast-paced thrills and plot twists may be disappointed. Instead, the book unfolds slowly, focusing on small, everyday moments like women bonding, strained marriages, and the problems of parenting teens.

The novel really shines in its handling of contemporary issues, particularly parenting teenagers in the digital age. Moriarty thoughtfully explores how much parents should monitor their kids, where protection ends, and intrusion begins, and what it means to raise children whose lives unfold largely on screens. These questions give the book real weight and relevance.

For readers who love character-driven family stories with something to say about modern life, Big Little Truth is well worth the time. Just don't pick it up expecting a page-turning thriller.