Ms Moriarty’s light touch is again an absolute winner, so we can empathise and sympathise with each of the three leading characters in turn. Three Wishes was written as part of Moriarty’s master’s degree at Macquarie University in Sydney and was her first novel. And now I’ve loved Moriarty’s Three Wishes, originally published by Pan in 2004 and republished by Penguin in 2016. Alas, I’ve not managed to see the adaptation, but I loved the book on which it was based. Fortunately, all three sisters mend their ways before wreaking havoc in another Sydney restaurant on their next birthday.Most people by now will have heard of Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies, famously adapted into a television series starring Nicole Kidman. Lyn learns how to become less of a perfectionist Gemma learns how to hold onto a good relationship and her baby and Cat learns to let go of what she can’t control and start a new life for herself. This episode serves as a wake-up call for the siblings as each one makes an effort to eliminate destructive behavior patterns. During their birthday celebration, Gemma changes her mind, and Cat throws a fondue fork at her. Gemma also becomes pregnant but is unprepared to care for a child, so she promises it to Cat. The plot thickens after Cat conceives a baby but has a miscarriage. Because Cat hasn’t been able to get pregnant, she is also jealous that Lyn has a daughter. Cat is enraged and becomes angrier when she learns that Angela is the sister of Gemma’s latest boyfriend, Charlie. The trouble starts when Cat’s husband announces that he’s having an affair with a woman named Angela. Cat is intense and competitive Lyn is the family overachiever and Gemma drifts through life with no sense of direction. The three are extremely close but emotionally dramatic and combative toward one another. Cat and Lyn are identical, while Gemma is a fraternal twin. What brought the Kettle girls to this crisis is the subject of the rest of the book as the narrative traces their lives, starting with their unintended birth to 19-year-old parents.

Chaos ensues as all three are carted off to the hospital. The events of the evening are told from the perspective of other witnesses, but everyone agrees that Cat accuses the other two of ruining her life and throws a fondue fork that lodges in Gemma’s pregnant abdomen.

The novel begins with the Kettle triplets-Catriona “Cat” Kettle, Lyn Kettle, and Gemma Kettle-celebrating their collective 34th birthday at an elegant seafood restaurant in Sydney.

All page citations are taken from the Kindle edition of this book.

Three wishes liane