Review Tuesday: The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty -- #ReviewTuesday #Mystery #Australia

The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty

Penguin Books, 2005

‘Do you really think we can get away with it?’

‘If I didn’t think so, I wouldn’t be suggesting it, would I?’

‘We could go to jail. That’s my third worst fear. First funnel-webs, then childbirth, then jail.’

‘Neither of us is going to jail, you ninny. One day we’ll be sweet little old ladies and we’ll probably forget that it didn’t happen the way we said it did.’

‘I can’t imagine us as sweet little old ladies.’

‘It does seem unlikely.’

I don’t usually begin my reviews with a quote. However, when I opened Liane Moriarty’s The Last Anniversary and read these few sentences – the entire content of Chapter One – I was hooked. I had to buy the book, had to devour it in a matter of hours, not just to solve the mystery but because I couldn’t help being drawn to the scheming characters in this initial snippet, as well as the various other quirky dramatis personae in this lively and entertaining novel.

Let me back up and set the scene – 1930’s Australia, on Scribbly Gum Island, a little dollop of land in the Hawkesbury River, a ferry ride from downtown Sydney. Nineteen year old Connie and her younger sister Rose claim to have rescued a baby, abandoned by their tenants Jack and Alice Munro. The parents, it seems, simply vanished from their rented house, leaving the kettle on boil, a marble cake still warm from the oven, and a child in the cradle. Connie and Rose adopt the newborn, whom they christen Enigma. Over the years, with encouragement from the sisters (especially the no-nonsense, well-organized Connie), the “Munro Baby Mystery” turns Scribbly Gum Island into a local tourist attraction. Meanwhile, Enigma’s children, Laura and Margie, and her grandchildren, Veronika, Thomas and Grace, grow up on Scribbly Gum, participating in the tours of the Munro house and the once-a-year festival marking the anniversary of Jack’s and Alice’s disappearance.

Sophie, the focus character of the book, is an outsider. She becomes enmeshed in the family and the mystery when she begins a relationship with Thomas. Thirty-nine year old Sophie is pretty, clever, sociable, economically stable, and terribly aware than her biological clock is ticking. Nevertheless, she breaks up with Thomas, on the eve of his proposing, recognizing that though he’s sweet and considerate, she’d be bored spending her life with him. Then Connie, who is well into her nineties, passes away. Despite the emotional blow Sophie dealt to Thomas, Connie bequeaths her lovely water-side house to the younger woman.

The stage is set for drama as well as humor. Prickly Veronika is determined to ferret out the truth about the Munro family. New mother Grace feels nothing but horror at the sight of her infant son, not the instant love everyone told her she’d experience. Her adoring husband Callum is mystified by Grace’s sudden coldness and distance. After years of being belittled for her weight by her boorish husband Ron, good-natured Margie decides to take some action. Meanwhile, dreamy and artistic Rose, bewildered by the loss of her older sister, suffers the pains of age while fantasizing about her youth, and Enigma, the Munro baby herself, tries to pretend she’s not in her seventies. Newcomer Sophie has several candidates for Mr. Right, but she’s actually infatuated with Callum.

The Last Anniversary is not a deep novel, but it’s a masterpiece of craft. Little details early in the story turn out to be essential clues later. The author manages her ensemble cast with enviable skill, giving us the opportunity to see the world through the eyes of each character in turn. Though Connie is not physically present, she looms large in the thoughts and memories of those she left behind. After all, she is the architect of Scribbly Gum’s remarkable success.

Then, on the last page, Ms. Moriarty reveals a final plot twist that had me applauding, even as I reluctantly closed the book and set it aside.

Of course I’m not going to reveal the secret in this review. Discovering the truth is a big part of the fun of reading this book. That’s only one reason to read it, though. I found myself really caring about many of the characters – even the ones who are deeply flawed.

Laughter and tears, mystery and local color, love and sex, history and irony – The Last Anniversary offers them all. Check it out.