Apples Never Fall

Liane Moriarty

More than a mystery, this novel is a deep dive into the dynamics of family life - the relationship between two parents, the relationships between the parents and their four competitive children, and those between the siblings.

When Joy Delany, a well-known local tennis legend and reliable wife, mother and friend, goes missing, everyone is puzzled by behaviour which seems out of character. Is there something dark and hidden in her marriage to Stan, who sports two livid scratch marks down his cheeks? How do the adult children react to the idea that their father might have harmed their mother?

The timeline moves back and forth between the investigation of Joy’s disappearance by the family and police and an earlier timeline involving the sudden appearance of a stranger into Joy and Stan’s lives. Both timelines allow the characters to reveal themselves, their strengths and flaws, their hang-ups, memories and differing perceptions of who they are in relation to the judgements of others.

One of the central themes is parenting, a topic which can be uncomfortable reading for any mother. Moriarty examines the profound effect it has had on all the major characters – Joy, Stan, their children Amy, Logan, Troy, Brooke and the fragile woman who turns up on the doorstep one night, Savannah. Joy often wishes she could go back and ‘re-do’ her years as a mother, recognising how she may have done her best in a busy and chaotic family situation, but may not have provided everything each child needed. Well, don’t we all!

Equally, Joy and Stan’s perfect marriage is far more complex and nuanced than friends and family suspect. As they navigate their new retirement freedoms, released from work and family pressures, old patterns of behaviour are put under the microscope.

I’m a big fan of character driven, family dramas which delve into the psychology of behaviour and personality but you do have to settle in for a long read!