Author: Liane Moriarty
ISBN: 9781743534922
RRP: $32.99
Publication Date: 18 September 2018
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Copy: Courtesy of the Publisher
Liane Moriarty is a bestselling Australian author with a large fan following who love her writing style and deft story telling. Big Little Lies debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list and has been adapted for television, the series won a host of Emmy Awards and screened early last year. Big Little Lies may just be the first of Moriarty’ works to be adapted to screen, and I will definitely be keeping an eye out to watch what comes next.
Nine Perfect Strangers is the latest Liane Moriarty release and it is already garnering some pretty rave reviews on Goodreads. We have thirty of our members delving into the book this month and I know some are huge fans, there was great interest in the book so I look forward to reading what they all think.
Nine Perfect Strangers takes a group of stressed citysiders to a health and wellness resort called Tranquillum House and promises total transformation.
The retreat participants are keen to immerse themselves in the calming atmosphere, soak up the hot stone massages and drop their baggage.
The resort’s director is a woman determined to reinvigorate bodies and minds and these nine perfect strangers have no idea what they have let themselves in for.
Moriarty user her trademark wit and compassion alongside her ability to understand and explore human behaviour and the connections that can be forged in trying circumstances.
If this is anything like the other works of Moriarty I have read, or watched in the case of Big Little Lies, then I am sure I’m going to love it; and I’m sure there’s going to be twists and turns and a whole lot of the unexpected. I look forward to it, and reading what our members have to say.
You can follow Liane Moriarty on Facebook and her Website.
Thanks to Pan MacMillan 30 of our Beauty and Lace club members will be reading and reviewing Nine Perfect Strangers so please be aware there may be spoilers in the comments below.
Nine Perfect Strangers is available now through Pan MacMillan, Booktopia, Angus & Robertson and where all good books are sold.
I devour books, vampires and supernatural creatures are my genre of choice but over the past couple of years, I have broadened my horizons considerably. In a nutshell – I love to write! I love interacting with a diverse range of artists to bring you interviews. Perhaps we were perfect before – I LOVE WORDS!
I love Liane Moriarty books. I feel like I instantly connect with the characters and know them all quite well. This book has a simple premise. Nine strangers (well, technically six as three are in a family) go to a health retreat. Each with a story, each with a past. The key character was Frances. A fabulously easy-going, funny woman who you would love to be a big part of your friendship group and have lunch with on the weekend. The other characters’ stories were explored, but we heart mainly from Frances.
The health retreat sounded marvellous – until it didn’t. The story line wasn’t as intense as other reviewers are saying – I wouldn’t put it in the category of psychological thriller. I read a lot of crime and psychological thrillers, and this was very tame by all standards. However, it was a rollicking read, kept me thoroughly immersed and I read it in two days… even though I had a huge assignment due in!
Highly recommended. Easy reading, with fabulous insights about the human psyche as usual.
Thank you Beauty & Lace for the opportunity to read and review.
This book was very interesting. Nine strangers were sent to a health resort for different reasons. It was a book that you could put it down because one minute you were in it and the next you weren’t. The strangers were interesting at times.
What an awesome book! I’ve read all of Liane Moriarty’s books and was really looking forward to this one, so I was very excited when I was given the opportunity to review it. I was a bit nervous about starting ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’ because even though I had no idea what it was about, I’d built it up so much in my head and I didn’t want to be disappointed. Well, I had no need to worry. There were interesting characters, an un-put-down-able story line and a very satisfactory ending. I was left feeling very satisfied and content Thank you so much Beauty and Lace for another wonderful book to review >:o)
Nine perfect strangers, as expected, is just as wonderful as Liane Moriarty’s other novels.
9 strangers are thrust together in a health resort, all on different journeys and are challenged by Masha’s (the resort director) health program. The story delves into their lives, their successes and failures and we come to an understanding that in the end we all suffer in our own way from life’s heartaches and disappointments.
A fantastic setting, endearing & quirky characters, a great plot twist and an inability for the reader to put down the story is exactly what Liane has delivered again. Looking forward to the TV/movie adaptation.
Firstly I’d like to thank Pan Macmillan and Beaty and Lace book club for giving me the opportunity to review this book. Please be aware that there may be some spoilers in my review. I received my copy of Nine Perfect Strangers with great anticipation. As a lover of Liane Moriarty I was looking forward to seeing what her newest work would bring, having not heard or read any reviews of the book before receiving it.
One of the things that I love most about Liane’s writing is her ability to make her characters human, and relatable. And this book was no different. As you read you can identify traits or ways of thinking in each of the characters that you can see in yourself. In the same sort of style as her book ‘Three Wishes’ the book is told from the point of view of several of the main characters, which allows you to more fully understand who they are, and how they perceive certain scenarios. Arguably Frances is the main character of the book, as I felt like you heard from her more than the others.
In essence, Nine Perfect Strangers is about how a group of people come together at a health retreat, Tranquillum House which is set in rural Australia, and how their lives have led each of them to the point of seeking refuge there. Whether the stress of work, family, finances or health, they all attend hoping for some sort of transformation from the retreat, which is rumoured to be somewhat radical, but life changing. Little do they know that their facilitator has decided that for this particular group, she is going to try treatments which are completely new, and, she believes, will be wildly successful.
As I was reading I was waiting for the twist, but I was kind of left hanging. The book certainly went off on a tangent that I certainly wasn’t expecting, but the path to get there was fairly linear. And then right in the last few pages the perspective shifts again and Liane breaks the fourth wall and starts addressing the ‘Dear Reader’. I was left feeling a little discombobulated by the end and I feel like the book was just ‘OK’. I’d probably recommend it to friends as a light read, but with the qualifier that I don’t think it was as good as some of her other work.
Totally agree! Great Review
I did not understand some of the last few pages. Up to that point it was ok but then I was lost.
I totally agree with Anne, felt let down with last few pages after enjoying the book, whose wedding was it ?
Love it! Love it! Love it!
Nine Perfect Strangers is about a group of people, each with their own personal issues, who attend a health resort called Tranquillum House with promises of changing their lives forever.
The characters were all very interesting, but most especially the main character, Frances who I absolutely loved!
Liane Moriarty has cleverly written a funny and very engaging story. Her ability to delve into human behaviour should be commended. I am definitely a fan!
I thoroughly recommend this book. Thank you very much Beauty and Lace for the opportunity to read this amazing novel.
Liane Moriarty you have done it again! What a fantastic read. Guaranteed to entertain you!!!
Nine strangers wanted a place to escape, a place to become healthy and happy again. Tranquillum House, a retreat, had promised this and more. Misha, the director, was going to do everything in her power for her clients to achieve his. But did she go too far?
I’ll be honest the first half of the book went a bit slow. Introducing the characters and their stories but then it all changed!!! I couldn’t put the book down, soaking in the words on the page. I truly enjoyed the ending. It left me satisfied in every sense!!!
Thank you to Beauty and Lace for allowing me to read this exciting book which I’m sure will be another best seller.
Thanks for the opportunity to read Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty.
Wow what a book! Ok so as we know 9 people go to a health resort for a 10 day stay. Each has their own issues which are revealed as the story unfolds. Masha the owner of the resort also has an interesting history and ideas…which become clear over time. Her staff members Lao and Delilah also figure in the story. The story is told from the perspectives of the nine strangers, Masha and staff.
This is an engaging story but I will be honest, it went to places I wasnt expecting. That said, I couldn’t put the book down!
Liane Moriarty is a skilled story teller and this is a great book. 10/10
Thanks for the opportunity to read this book!
It arrived late on a Tuesday afternoon – my first book to review. I snuggled into bed with the treasure and safely devoured the first three chapters. Never failing to please, Moriarty delivered brilliantly eloquent characters with just the perfect balance of humour and seriousness. I was giggling by page 18 when one of main characters, Frances, delivers this line “serial killer probably preferred his victims less sweaty”.
This book made me laugh, cry, and gasp all within one chapter. The characters are very like-able (even the villians), and I felt like I could relate to each and every one in some way.
After the juicy, main event, the story wanes a little, and I found myself re-reading sections because I felt like I missed the point. This was my 2nd Moriarty book, and I will absolutely seek out a third.
Thank you to Beauty and Lace for being the encouragement I needed to return to being a bookworm.
So i wasnt sure what to expect going into this one, i am a big Liane Moriarty fan but had seen some mixed reviews.
Well i started it …and couldnt put it down ( was a one night read for me)
The premise- 9 strangers book into an elite health retreat, all for different reasons but they are all broken in mind/ body or spirit.
In ten days they will leave, feeling happier, healthier- a better versions of themselves. (but will they )
I really loved getting to know all these characters, their back stories and their developing relationships with the other retreat goers. The first half of the book is really a thorough introduction into their lives.
It’s a bit hard to go into to much detail about the storyline without giving away any spoilers , but i think the beauty of this book is that reading the blurb you really have no idea where this book is headed ( which is rare) …but i will say there is alot of humour,alot of sadness and you will care about the characters. …it’s just a fun read and i think Liane Moriarty probably had alot of fun writing it.