With over 20 million copies of her books sold around the world, Liane Moriarty is one of the most widely read and successful novelists writing today. She has multiple #1 New York Times bestsellers to her name and the cinematic quality of her work has made her Hollywood’s go-to author with three of her novels adapted for the screen, including the Emmy-winning HBO limited series, Big Little Lies. A modern-day Jane Austen, she has earned the devotion of a global readership thanks to her mastery of domestic drama, a writer who brings poignancy to relatable themes through irresistible characters, compelling scenarios, and deceptively sharp observations of human behavior and social dynamics—with a healthy dose of humor and wit. In her new novel, Here One Moment, Moriarty’s talents are on full display as she poses this unnerving question to readers: if you knew you only had a certain amount of time left to live, would you do things differently?
In the opening pages of her new novel, Here One Moment, Liane Moriarty introduces us to an ensemble cast of travelers boarding an ordinary domestic flight. There is the joyous newlywed couple still dressed in their wedding finery; the over-whelmed mother traveling with toddler and infant in tow; the empty nesters on their way home from their long planned cross-country trip; the frantic father desperate to get back in time for his daughter’s school play; and an unremarkable older woman who will soon alter the lives of every passenger on that fateful flight. It was this woman who, just minutes before landing, suddenly rises from her seat and—with startling efficiency—shares with each passenger the age and cause of their death. For some, these predictions are a fun bit of macabre, for others even a strange comfort (death at age 103 quietly at home in bed!), but for six passengers, the prophecies are deeply unsettling as “the Death Lady” (as she will come to be known) predicts their end is in the very near future. Most are able to convince themselves this encounter was nothing more than the ravings of an unwell woman—that is until her predictions start coming to pass.
A deft rumination on free will and destiny and our innate need for certainty in an uncertain world Here One Moment is the next great addition to Moriarty’s oeuvre.
Liane Moriarty will be joined in conversation with Karen Joy Fowler.
About the Authors
Liane Moriarty is the author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers Big Little Lies, Apples Never Fall, The Husband’s Secret, and Truly Madly Guilty; the New York Times bestsellers Nine Perfect Strangers, What Alice Forgot, and The Last Anniversary; The Hypnotist’s Love Story; and Three Wishes. She lives in Sydney, Australia, with her husband and two children.
Karen Joy Fowler is a novelist and short story writer. Her fourth novel, The Jane Austen Book Club, was a NY Times bestseller and her sixth, We are all completely beside ourselves, won the PEN/FAULKNER for fiction in 2013 and was shortlisted for the Man/Booker. Her most recent, Booth, was published in March of 2022. At present, she’s written seven novels, has seven grandchildren, and lives in Santa Cruz.
Please note that Liane Moriarty will be staying to sign books after the event.
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