Status
Available
Genres
Publication
Harper Paperbacks (2006), Edition: 1, 400 pages
Description
Fiction. Literature. Romance. Humor (Fiction.) HTML: From Liane Moriarty, author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers Big Little Lies and Truly Madly Guilty, comes an unforgettable novel defined by her signature sharp wit, page-turning storyline, and lovable and eccentric characters. Sophie Honeywell always wondered if Thomas Gordon was the one who got away. He was the perfect boyfriend, but on the day he was going to propose, she broke his heart. A year later he married his travel agent, while Sophie has been mortifyingly single ever since. Now Thomas is back in her life because Sophie has unexpectedly inherited his aunt Connie's house on Scribbly Gum Island�??home of the famously unsolved Munro Baby mystery. Sophie moves onto the island and begins a new life as part of an unconventional family, where it seems everyone has a secret. Grace, a beautiful young mother, is feverishly planning a shocking escape from her perfect life. Margie, a frumpy housewife, has made a pact with a stranger, while dreamy Aunt Rose wonders if maybe it's about time she started making her own decisions. As Sophie's life becomes increasingly complicated, she discovers that sometimes you have to stop waiting around�??and come up with your own fairy-tale ending… (more)
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User reviews
LibraryThing member starmist
Each of the characters in _The Last Anniversary_ is drawn to perfection by Ms. Moriarty. Fully formed with foibles as well as charms of the men and women of Scribbly Gum Island are quite believable. The most fascinating thing about Scribbly Gum Island isn’t the mystery of the Munro baby but the
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tightly knit web of relationships among the people tied to the island. Ms. Moriarty does a marvelous job of showing us just how far one can go when circumstances require as well as what can happen when people realize that dreams are nice but reality can have happy endings too. I’ll be spreading the word about this marvelous tale. Show Less
LibraryThing member trayceetee
This was a fun story. I really enjoy the way Moriarty develops her characters, as the story itself unfolds. I didn't have any real suspicions or inklings about the truth behind the Alice & Jack Monroe story.... I was pleasantly surprised by the way the whole story wrapped up.
LibraryThing member zmagic69
Not as good as Big Little Lies, it dragged to much at times but the last 50 or so pages redeemed the book. An entertaining quick read, from a great author.
LibraryThing member Felicity-Smith
Very very impressed by the style of this book. Crosses quite a lot of characters and most of them manage to have some depth. This story handles an extended family and how they interact based around a single event/matirach. I really enjoyed the slow pace and the simple writing style. It was an easy
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read but not a pointless one. I would recommend this book. Show Less
LibraryThing member alanna1122
I really enjoyed this book. Several friends have recommended Liane Moriarty to me and this was the first novel of hers that I have picked up. I didn't go into this book with any real expectations.
I loved the strong sense of Australia that this book had. I love the specificity of the types of
The story was unusual and progressed in a page turning fashion. It was one part mystery and one part relationship novel - it worked and I liked the varied plot lines of the different characters.
This is a great summer read - a terrific book to throw into your beach bag!
I loved the strong sense of Australia that this book had. I love the specificity of the types of
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cookies they ate - the places they visited and the birds and flowers in the landscape. Never having been to Australia - I really enjoy all these details and they add so much to the telling of the book.The story was unusual and progressed in a page turning fashion. It was one part mystery and one part relationship novel - it worked and I liked the varied plot lines of the different characters.
This is a great summer read - a terrific book to throw into your beach bag!
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LibraryThing member erinclark
I just love Liane Moriarty's writing, she always has a little unexpected twist at the end of her stories that make me either laugh or gasp out loud, so clever! I listened to the audio version of this book and found it excellent with the Australian accent of the narrator. All the characters in this
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book are well developed and one can empathize with all of them. I'm a huge Liane Moriarty fan and she does not disappoint with this book. Highly recommended. Show Less
LibraryThing member flourgirl49
Not as good as her later books. This was written earlier in her writing career, and I think she developed into a better writer as she went along. You can definitely see signs of her talent for character development and great dialogue. The ending was kind of anti-climactic and fizzled out, but
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all-in-all a worthwhile read. Show Less
LibraryThing member KatKealy
I liked the other two books of hers I read, but this one was HORRIBLE. I didn't care about the characters at all...
LibraryThing member Mathenam
I've liked every book by author Liane Moriarty. Enjoyable characters and storyline about a family that lives on a small island, and the shenanigans they get up to.
LibraryThing member bookczuk
I somehow stumbled across this book, and picked it up to read between some other obligatory books, which were either darker, more serious, or non-fiction. This presented a good diversionary read, with characters I liked (though I kept getting the family tree all bolloxed up). So great
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moments/twists in the book, as characters reveal themselves, but my favorite came at the very end of the book. Can't say more without a spoiler. Show Less
LibraryThing member cjordan916
Sophie Honeywell always wondered if Thomas Gordon was the one who got away. He was the perfect boyfriend, but on the day he was going to propose, she broke his heart. A year later he married his travel agent, while Sophie has been mortifyingly single ever since. Now Thomas is back in her life
Sophie moves onto the island and begins a new life as part of an unconventional family, where it seems everyone has a secret. Grace, a beautiful young mother, is feverishly planning a shocking escape from her perfect life. Margie, a frumpy housewife, has made a pact with a stranger, while dreamy Aunt Rose wonders if maybe it's about time she started making her own decisions.
As Sophie's life becomes increasingly complicated, she discovers that sometimes you have to stop waiting around—and come up with your own fairy-tale ending.
Show More
because Sophie has unexpectedly inherited his aunt Connie's house on Scribbly Gum Island—home of the famously unsolved Munro Baby mystery.Sophie moves onto the island and begins a new life as part of an unconventional family, where it seems everyone has a secret. Grace, a beautiful young mother, is feverishly planning a shocking escape from her perfect life. Margie, a frumpy housewife, has made a pact with a stranger, while dreamy Aunt Rose wonders if maybe it's about time she started making her own decisions.
As Sophie's life becomes increasingly complicated, she discovers that sometimes you have to stop waiting around—and come up with your own fairy-tale ending.
Show Less
LibraryThing member bookworm12
Moriatry crafts novels that suck you in immediately. The timeline and family tree in this one are a little trickier to follow than her others, but I read it in one weekend and that helped me keep everything straight.
The Gordon family has lived on a small island in Australia for years. A mystery
Grace’s story was powerful because it gave such an intimate look at post-partum depression, something so few people understand. I also loved seeing Margie’s transformation. Standing up for yourself after years of being put down is incredibly difficult. The big twist/reveals weren’t as shocking as some of her other novels, like Big Little Lies, but that didn’t matter. I just enjoy the worlds she creates too much to care.
BOTTOM LINE: The magic of the island is infectious. You want to visit it and be swept away by the mystery of it all. It’s not my favorite Moriarty novel. It definitely feels like an earlier work, but that just means she’s getting better with each book and I have even more great novels to look forward to.
The Gordon family has lived on a small island in Australia for years. A mystery
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involving a vanished family and abandoned baby has haunted the shores for decades. When Connie, one of the eldest members of the family passes away, she unexpectedly leaves her home to her grandson’s ex-girlfriend Sophie. The odd choice baffles the family, but soon Sophie steps into her ready-made life on the island. She meets Connie’s whimsical sister Rose, Enigma, the mystery baby and her adult daughters: Margie and Laura. The grandkids, Grace, Thomas, and Veronica are all adults as well. Each one adds a unique twist to the story. Grace’s story was powerful because it gave such an intimate look at post-partum depression, something so few people understand. I also loved seeing Margie’s transformation. Standing up for yourself after years of being put down is incredibly difficult. The big twist/reveals weren’t as shocking as some of her other novels, like Big Little Lies, but that didn’t matter. I just enjoy the worlds she creates too much to care.
BOTTOM LINE: The magic of the island is infectious. You want to visit it and be swept away by the mystery of it all. It’s not my favorite Moriarty novel. It definitely feels like an earlier work, but that just means she’s getting better with each book and I have even more great novels to look forward to.
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LibraryThing member MaggieG13
4.25 stars
“If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you might as well make it dance.” - George Bernard Shaw
Warning: Do not read this book in the vicinity of sleeping babies or people with a nervous disposition. Your frequent spontaneous peals of laughter may startle them.
The Last
Sophie Honeywell is a 39-year-old Sydney, Australia resident who works in human resources. She is the only child of Hans and Gretel Honeywell, a couple with an insatiable sense of fun and bottomless love for life, each other and their daughter. Sophie is a lovely person inside and outside with a sparkling personality who inspires confidence in almost everyone she meets. Three years prior, she broke up a year-long relationship with Thomas Gordon, just seconds before he was going to whisk her away to Fiji in order to propose to her on one of the islands’ white beaches. She was puzzled to hear his voice on the phone, asking to meet for a drink after work. He would only say that someone had died and he really could not say anything further on the phone.
At the hotel lounge, Thomas explained that Aunt Connie, the family matriarch, had died in her sleep the day prior. Among the very organized stack of papers she left was a letter addressed to Sophie. Aunt Connie and Sophie had only met briefly two or three times during Thomas time. Aunt Connie and the rest of Thomas’ family lived on Scribbly Gum Island, a suburb of Sydney, across the river, though Thomas himself rarely visited the place when Sophie knew him. The letter from Aunt Connie informs Sophie she is the new owner of her lovely home because she knew Sophie would love and appreciate it. She shares a special memory with Sophie from one of her visits to the island, a small moment that meant literally everything to Aunt Connie.
Although Scribbly Gum Island is fictitious, scribbly gums are in fact a type of eucalyptus tree. Moriarty used the very real Parramatta River as the location for her tiny island of six homes. Aunt Connie and Aunt Rose’s grandfather had won the island in a bet with a very wealthy man in the early 20th century. During their childhood, there were two homes – one for grandfather and one for the girls and their parents. Like millions of other people around the world, the Doughty family had a tough time during the Great Depression.
Then an incident occurred which was to turn around their bleak circumstances. Alice and Jack Munro had been renting grandfather’s house after he passed away and on one particular day they asked the Doughty girls, teenagers at the time, to stop by for tea. When the girls got to the house, a marble cake was cooling, the tea kettle was whistling, and the Munros were gone, save for their baby girl, nestled in her crib. The sisters took the child home with them, talked their father into letting them keep her.
Thus The Munro Baby Mystery is born. Connie, the older of the sisters, had an entrepreneurial mind and a fascination with mysteries, especially the real-life mystery of the Mary Celeste. This was a boat that was found abandoned in the Atlantic, on its way from New York to Italy, all ten people who had been aboard had disappeared. No signs of struggle or violence. Connie draws an analogy between the Mary Celeste and the Munro Baby Mystery and the Munro baby, named Enigma by the Doughtys, became a regional celebrity. Her story becomes the family business, a virtual gold mine. Besides tours of the Munro Home, there are souvenirs, selling the story to the media, and an anniversary festival celebrating the date they found Enigma.
By the time Sophie enters the picture, Enigma is grandmother to Thomas, his sister Veronika, and their cousin Grace. She has been a living mystery for 73 years. The emotional ramifications of Connie’s death will rock this rather dysfunctional family to its very core and make this festival marking the discovery of the Munro baby the last anniversary. It is a heck of a ride.
The Last Anniversary is filled with Moriarty’s (does Sherlock Holmes pop into your mind?) trademark wit, and her profound insights into human behavior. She tackles some serious issues in this book – adultery, rape and postpartum depression. Grace is a very successful children’s book writer and illustrator who at age 33 has just given birth to 8-week-old baby Jake. She is repulsed by being a mother and by the baby himself. She is convinced that the child does not like her at all. She fears that the maternal dysfunction of her great-grandmother Munro, who abandoned her own baby is in her DNA. She sits and stares at a carton of milk on the table for two hours, unable to move. Because of Grace’s physical beauty and her own reserved personality, no one recognizes the signs and when Callum, her husband, shares with his own mother that Grace is just not herself, he is basically just shushed. Sometimes husbands don’t get enough respect.
Only a writer of Moriarty’s caliber and remarkable insight into human behavior could produce novels that cover such hot-button subjects and manage to make the reader laugh, drop kick them in the heart, and yet keep turning the pages.
“If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you might as well make it dance.” - George Bernard Shaw
Warning: Do not read this book in the vicinity of sleeping babies or people with a nervous disposition. Your frequent spontaneous peals of laughter may startle them.
The Last
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Anniversary is not a new book, but it is presently on the New York Times Bestsellers. It was originally published in Australia in 2005. Apparently interest in it has been revived due to the huge international success of the author’s more recent books. Frankly, as much as I enjoyed her other novels, this is my favorite – so far. Sophie Honeywell is a 39-year-old Sydney, Australia resident who works in human resources. She is the only child of Hans and Gretel Honeywell, a couple with an insatiable sense of fun and bottomless love for life, each other and their daughter. Sophie is a lovely person inside and outside with a sparkling personality who inspires confidence in almost everyone she meets. Three years prior, she broke up a year-long relationship with Thomas Gordon, just seconds before he was going to whisk her away to Fiji in order to propose to her on one of the islands’ white beaches. She was puzzled to hear his voice on the phone, asking to meet for a drink after work. He would only say that someone had died and he really could not say anything further on the phone.
At the hotel lounge, Thomas explained that Aunt Connie, the family matriarch, had died in her sleep the day prior. Among the very organized stack of papers she left was a letter addressed to Sophie. Aunt Connie and Sophie had only met briefly two or three times during Thomas time. Aunt Connie and the rest of Thomas’ family lived on Scribbly Gum Island, a suburb of Sydney, across the river, though Thomas himself rarely visited the place when Sophie knew him. The letter from Aunt Connie informs Sophie she is the new owner of her lovely home because she knew Sophie would love and appreciate it. She shares a special memory with Sophie from one of her visits to the island, a small moment that meant literally everything to Aunt Connie.
Although Scribbly Gum Island is fictitious, scribbly gums are in fact a type of eucalyptus tree. Moriarty used the very real Parramatta River as the location for her tiny island of six homes. Aunt Connie and Aunt Rose’s grandfather had won the island in a bet with a very wealthy man in the early 20th century. During their childhood, there were two homes – one for grandfather and one for the girls and their parents. Like millions of other people around the world, the Doughty family had a tough time during the Great Depression.
Then an incident occurred which was to turn around their bleak circumstances. Alice and Jack Munro had been renting grandfather’s house after he passed away and on one particular day they asked the Doughty girls, teenagers at the time, to stop by for tea. When the girls got to the house, a marble cake was cooling, the tea kettle was whistling, and the Munros were gone, save for their baby girl, nestled in her crib. The sisters took the child home with them, talked their father into letting them keep her.
Thus The Munro Baby Mystery is born. Connie, the older of the sisters, had an entrepreneurial mind and a fascination with mysteries, especially the real-life mystery of the Mary Celeste. This was a boat that was found abandoned in the Atlantic, on its way from New York to Italy, all ten people who had been aboard had disappeared. No signs of struggle or violence. Connie draws an analogy between the Mary Celeste and the Munro Baby Mystery and the Munro baby, named Enigma by the Doughtys, became a regional celebrity. Her story becomes the family business, a virtual gold mine. Besides tours of the Munro Home, there are souvenirs, selling the story to the media, and an anniversary festival celebrating the date they found Enigma.
By the time Sophie enters the picture, Enigma is grandmother to Thomas, his sister Veronika, and their cousin Grace. She has been a living mystery for 73 years. The emotional ramifications of Connie’s death will rock this rather dysfunctional family to its very core and make this festival marking the discovery of the Munro baby the last anniversary. It is a heck of a ride.
The Last Anniversary is filled with Moriarty’s (does Sherlock Holmes pop into your mind?) trademark wit, and her profound insights into human behavior. She tackles some serious issues in this book – adultery, rape and postpartum depression. Grace is a very successful children’s book writer and illustrator who at age 33 has just given birth to 8-week-old baby Jake. She is repulsed by being a mother and by the baby himself. She is convinced that the child does not like her at all. She fears that the maternal dysfunction of her great-grandmother Munro, who abandoned her own baby is in her DNA. She sits and stares at a carton of milk on the table for two hours, unable to move. Because of Grace’s physical beauty and her own reserved personality, no one recognizes the signs and when Callum, her husband, shares with his own mother that Grace is just not herself, he is basically just shushed. Sometimes husbands don’t get enough respect.
Only a writer of Moriarty’s caliber and remarkable insight into human behavior could produce novels that cover such hot-button subjects and manage to make the reader laugh, drop kick them in the heart, and yet keep turning the pages.
Show Less
LibraryThing member mcelhra
Liane Moriarty is one of my favorite authors. This is the fourth book of hers I’ve read (although it’s the second one she’s written) and it did not disappoint. The Last Anniversary is a wonderful blend of mystery, serious issues and humor like her other books I’ve read.
Sophie is thirty-nine
Sophie is welcomed by most of the family with open arms. The family members each have their own unique struggles and the narration switches back and forth between Sophie and various members of the family. I was completely drawn in to each person’s story, particularly Grace’s. Grace is a new mom who, to the reader, is obviously struggling with post-partum depression.. However, no one in the family notices and Grace just thinks she’s a horrible mother. I wanted to shake her husband for being so clueless. And her mother Laura was horrid!
The Last Anniversary has it all: Well-drawn characters, a well-plotted mystery and a good dose of humor to keep it from being too heavy I’m so looking forward to completing my mission of reading her entire backlist. And eagerly awaiting her next book!
Sophie is thirty-nine
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years old and can hear her biological clock ticking quite loudly. She’s starting to wonder if she should have broken up with her almost fiancé Thomas when one day he calls her out of the blue. He tells her that his Aunt Connie, who Sophie had barely known, has died and left Sophie her house on Scribbly Gum Island to her. Scribbly Gum Island is famous for being the place where the Munroe baby was found abandoned and Sophie just happens to be a huge fan of that story. She’s excited to be moving onto the island, where the Monroe Baby, now an adult, and her family live.Sophie is welcomed by most of the family with open arms. The family members each have their own unique struggles and the narration switches back and forth between Sophie and various members of the family. I was completely drawn in to each person’s story, particularly Grace’s. Grace is a new mom who, to the reader, is obviously struggling with post-partum depression.. However, no one in the family notices and Grace just thinks she’s a horrible mother. I wanted to shake her husband for being so clueless. And her mother Laura was horrid!
The Last Anniversary has it all: Well-drawn characters, a well-plotted mystery and a good dose of humor to keep it from being too heavy I’m so looking forward to completing my mission of reading her entire backlist. And eagerly awaiting her next book!
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LibraryThing member tjsjohanna
There were some great characters in this novel - and there were some serious topics addressed as well. I felt such compassion and fear for Grace, and empathy for Sophie, and admiration for Margie. The revelation of secrets at the end of the book was satisfying without wrapping everyone up in a bow
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- and there was that last big surprise that Ms. Moriarty specializes in. Show Less
LibraryThing member Pinky22
First novel of hers I've read. Absolutely loved it!! Laughed and cried. Reminded me a lot of reading Marian Keyes. Need to read the rest of her books!
LibraryThing member she_climber
Not as snarky and funny as Moriarty's other books but still a very engaging and entertaining story.
LibraryThing member NHNick
This book really disappointed me. I found the plot going in way too many directions...single woman wanting more, being left a home in a will from someone she barely knew, because she was so charming. Postpartum depression, lesbian, gay, "murder" mystery, sexual abuse of a minor...even nut
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allergies! Had it been a library book, it would have been returned unfinished. Unfortunately I purchased as a deal of the day. Show Less
LibraryThing member KimHooperWrites
I never met a Liane Moriarty book I didn't love. The end.
LibraryThing member KeriLynneD
I'm going to give this one 3.5 stars actually. I have come to love Liane Moriarty books but this one isn't at the top of my favorites. It took me longer to get into this book and I kept feeling that I just wanted to be done with it. It drags a little and has too many different characters
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perspectives. I did enjoy the surprise at the end involving Rose, it made the read worth it! Show Less
LibraryThing member emhromp2
A brilliant book, touching and funny. It's about a woman who doesn't get from life what she'd really want. Then she moves to a close-knit community and has to sort her life out. I like this author and can't wait for her next novel. Her first novel was better though.
LibraryThing member kimpiddington
There's always a secret-and it's not always JUST the one you were reading to discover. Delicious.
LibraryThing member joannemonck
Love all of her books but this one wins the cake for humor. It is as usually a book full of interesting characters. A woman inherits a house on an island. She doesn't know the woman very well but she was dating the woman's grandson at one time. He is now married. His wife has a baby. The woman who
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inherits dates 2 men. She is in love with another married man. The island makes money by showing a house where a couple left their child 75 years before and vanished into thin air. The characters are fantastic and Sophie Honeywell (the main character) is humorous. Show Less
LibraryThing member Briars_Reviews
Liane Moriarty is a hit or miss author for me. I enjoy her writing style, but sometimes her books just don't hit right. The Last Anniversary was one of those books where I just thought there would be... more to it. It was a fantastic idea and it hit for a while, but then it felt like it went off
This book had a lot of potential but it just didn't do it for me. I wish there had been more thought and more follow through on the many ideas and strings brought forward in this book.
Two out of five stars.
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the tracks. There was so much more this book could have been, but then it rushed it's way to the end, and the end was kind of dull... I expected something much more mind blowing and crazy than the ending we got.This book had a lot of potential but it just didn't do it for me. I wish there had been more thought and more follow through on the many ideas and strings brought forward in this book.
Two out of five stars.
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LibraryThing member coolmama
What if?
Sophie Honeywell lives in Sydney and is left a house on Scribbly Gum Island by the Aunt of her ex-boyfriend. Poor Sophie, almost 40, without boyfriend or child.
Part murder mystery (the island shot to fame due to an abandoned child), part chick lit.
The novel could have been 50+ pages
Sophie Honeywell lives in Sydney and is left a house on Scribbly Gum Island by the Aunt of her ex-boyfriend. Poor Sophie, almost 40, without boyfriend or child.
Part murder mystery (the island shot to fame due to an abandoned child), part chick lit.
The novel could have been 50+ pages
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shorter, however, I loved the authors snarky comments! Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2005
Physical description
8 inches
ISBN
9780060890681