Last year I delved into the library of Liane Moriarty. Big Little Lies was fantastic and The Husband’s Secret was solid. I never could finish The Hypnotist’s Love Story so her books kind of fell to the back burner. Enter a 2 for 1 audible sale, and a lot of menial work tasks that are best done with headphones.
The Last Anniversary is the story of Scribbly Gum Island and its residents. There’s Sophie Honeywell who takes up residence after being mysteriously left “Aunt” Connie’s house. “Aunt” Rose, Connie’s sister still lives there, along with Enigma and her descendants. Enigma is the crux of the story. She’s a mysterious baby who Connie and Rose found when her parents disappeared back in the 30s. The mystery has made quite a profit for the family as it’s never been solved. It’s a story of their lives right after Connie’s death, and the revealing of many family secrets.
As always, Ms. Moriarty is a solid writer. Her characters were real, flaws and all, and quite three dimensional. I overall enjoyed the story. It was interesting and often fun, but very clearly an earlier work. The hard part I had with it was that no characters were likable. At all. Even Sophie, the ostensible heroine, was kind of ick. Also by the end of the story a little had changed, but a lot had not. I know that was kind of her point, but it just left me feeling very indifferent. Also I guessed all of the big, bad family secrets. It just left me flat at the big reveal.
If you’re a Moriarty completist then absolutely read away, and if you’re not it wasn’t a bad read. I just recommend much more so her more recent works.
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