The Debutante Ball Welcomes Liane Moriarty (Giveaway!)

Author Liane MoriartyToday Liane Moriarty joins us to put on her tiara and gloves and take a spin around the floor! Stick around after her interview for a chance to win a copy of her latest book!

Liane Moriarty is the author of three novels: Three Wishes, The Last Anniversary and most recently, What Alice Forgot (Amy Einhorn/Putnam). Liane is also the author of the Nicola Berry series for children, and all her books have been published around the world. She lives in Sydney, Australia with her husband and two small children, and she can be found online at lianemoriarty.com.

Liane Moriarty Takes the Deb Interview!

Talk about one book that made an impact on you.

The book that literally changed my life forever is a hilarious, award-winning YA novel called Feeling Sorry for Celia.  The author is my younger sister, Jaclyn Moriarty.  As children, Jaci and I both dreamed of becoming authors. Our father encouraged us by ‘commissioning’ novels from us. I can still taste the grown-up, weighty feel of that word in my mouth: ‘commission’. We grew up and my sister became a lawyer and I became an advertising copywriter. I still dreamed of being a writer, but I didn’t do much about it, except for writing numerous first chapters of novels that didn’t go any further. Then one day, I got a phone call from my sister. A publisher had just made a fantastic offer for her first novel. I was thrilled for her while simultaneously gnashing my teeth with envy. Her success was the inspiration and incentive I needed to finally sit down and finish my first novel, Three Wishes. It shames me to say it, but I know full well that if it wasn’t for my little sister, I’d still be saying wistfully, “I always thought I’d be a writer.”

Who is one of your favorite (fictional or non-fictional) characters?

Patrick Pennington from the series by the British author, K.M.Peyton, beginning with Pennington’s Seventeenth Summer. I read this series as a fourteen-year-old and fell deeply in love with Patrick. He was a big, brooding, leather-jacket-wearing bad boy, who got into trouble a lot, but played the piano like an angel. I still swoon at the thought of his big grazed knuckles (from punching walls, etcetera) caressing the piano keys. Ah, Patrick. It’s probably your fault that I took so long to find the right man.

Talk about one thing that’s making you happy right now.

Saturday mornings are making me happy. It’s autumn here in Sydney, and that means the sun is warm, the air is cool and the sky is so blue it breaks your heart. We’ve been taking the children to the beach on Saturday mornings, stopping on the way to pick up coffees and almond croissants. The beach is quiet at this time of year, my baby girl bottom-shuffles her way across the sand while my three-year old son chases seagulls. It’s still warm enough to swim, but cool enough to want a long warm bath when you get home. And then, sometimes, when we get home, the children are so tired from the beach and the bath, they actually, wait for it: sleep at the same time. I’m not kidding. Bliss.

Share something that’s always guaranteed to make you laugh.

Two fingers gently squeezed on either side of my right knee. It makes me laugh a very particular sort of high-pitched manic laugh, while screaming, and swearing and flailing about like I’m on fire. My husband is so very happy that he discovered this.

What’s your next big thing?

I have just finished a new novel called THE HYPNOTIST’S LOVE STORY. It’s about a hypnotherapist who falls in love with a man who is being stalked by his ex-girlfriend. It sounds like a thriller but it’s not. It’s about the mild craziness that lurks behind the facades we present to the world, especially when it comes to love. Writing this book gave me the excuse to do a lot of research into the fascinating subject of hypnotism. I read numerous books, and went off and got myself hypnotised. Now, whenever I do an author talk I tell my audience that as a result of my research I’ve mastered the art of hypnotism, and I’ve planted a post-hypnotic suggestion in their heads that will make them feel compelled to buy TWhat Alice ForgotHE HYPNOTIST’S LOVE STORY when they see it on the shelves. They always laugh, but just a little uneasily.


Liane, thank you so much for coming by!

What Alice Forgot is the story of a woman who loses ten years of her memory. She thinks she’s 29, pregnant with her first child and blissfully in love with her husband. In fact, she’s 39, the mother of three children, and she’s in the middle of a bitter divorce. Publishers Weekly described it as ‘moving, well-paced and thoroughly pleasurable’, and Fox 2000 have optioned the film rights. Book clubs love it because it gives everyone a chance to reflect on how their lives have changed over the past decade and what their younger selves would think of the people they’ve become.

If you’d like to enter to win a copy of What Alice Forgot (US addresses only), leave a comment below! We’ll announce the winner next week!

26 Replies to “The Debutante Ball Welcomes Liane Moriarty (Giveaway!)”

  1. What a fascinating interview! My sister and I are both aspiring authors–which means we both write, and have been writing for a while, but are both only nominally published. Who knows which of us will publish first. Funny, but I kind of hope it’s her.

    Both books sound intriguing, too!

  2. Hello and welcome! I love that your father commissioned books from you and your sister. What a fabulous way to give you a sense of responsibility, confidence and respect. If you could awaken and be anywhere in your life (for pure fun) where would it be? I’d be 19, at summer school at Dartmouth. Forever. 🙂

  3. Lovely interview! Now I want to go to the beach. With a cup of coffee and an almond croissant, of course. (Suggestible? Moi? Just a tad.)

    WHAT ALICE FORGOT sounds fascinating. I’m suddenly feeling this inexplicable urge to order it…hey, waitaminnit! Can you do that hypnosis thing over the internet?

  4. Sounds like an interesting story. It is interesting to look back on the last 10 years and see how my life has changed.

  5. What Alice Forgot sounds fascinating, and I’d love a chance to win a copy!
    Also, to Liane, we both have the knee-tickle-laugh thing in common! 🙂

  6. I’ve been wanting to read WHAT ALICE FORGOT since I first heard about it. Such a fun concept and I think it is a good thing for each of us to look back 10 years or 20 years and remember how far we’ve come or how much our life has changed. A little eye opening I think.

    Liane’s trips to the beach with her family sound delightful and I suspect she is just as delighted when the kiddies come home happy and tired and sleepy! LOL

  7. Feeling Sorry for Celia is one of my favorite novels!! I am planning to study abroad in Sydney next spring, maybe I’ll bump into you (because it’s such a small town and everyone knows everyone else ;] )

  8. The knee pinch drives me crazy too! My husband sometimes reaches over and lovingly squeezes my knee while he’s driving, and I punch him because the tickling sensation is so overpowering. It still confuses him. I can’t wait to read your book – it sounds amazing!

  9. This book is a definite must read. Win or lose, I’ll be reading it (of course, I’d love to win it!).

    My husband also has the knee issue. I find this a very fun thing to do when he least expects it. He flails about while giggling like a little schook girl and screaming. It is one of the funniest things I have ever seen 🙂

  10. Oh, I love those literary bad boys, too, and I do blame them for a number of bad relationship choices I made.

    Liane, I’m so glad WHAT ALICE FORGOT is getting some good American love! I hope we’ll get to see you here sometime!

  11. I don’t want to enter as I have this book already. I just want to say how much I am loving the book so far. It was a pleasure having Liane visit CLC last week. 🙂

  12. What a fascinating premise! I cannot imagine waking up and not knowing the people and surrounding around me. So eerie…..Can’t wait to read it!

  13. I’ve been waiting for this book to release as I’ve heard such good things about it. Of course I would love to win a copy!

  14. Your autumn sounds lovely, I love in FL and we’ve really hit the heat of summer. Just yesterday I was reading a recommendation of your book and put it on my tbr list. I’d love to win a copy, the set up sounds great!!
    I love that the Debs shared this interview!!

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