Books Read: Liane Moriarty - The Husband's Secret

Mother of three and wife of John-Paul, Cecilia discovers an old envelope in the attic. Written in her husband's hand, it says: to be opened only in the event of my death.

Curious, she opens it - and time stops.

John-Paul's letter confesses to a terrible mistake which, if revealed, would wreck their family as well as the lives of others.

Cecilia - betrayed, angry and distraught - wants to do the right thing, but right for who? If she protects her family by staying silent, the truth will worm through her heart. But if she reveals her husband's secret, she will hurt those she loves most...

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Firstly I must apologise to Real Readers and Penguin as I've had this book in my TBR pile for several months but due to a massive TBR pile have only just got to this one now.

In The Husband's Secret we meet three main characters, Cecilia, Tess and Rachel, whose lives appear to be interlinked.

When Cecilia discovers an old letter in the attic written by her husband with the wording to be opened in the event of my death, she is intrigued as to what is inside it.  But following a phone call with her husband John-Paul, who's working away from home, she promises not to open it but when he returns home out of the blue she's curious to know why the re-appearance of this letter has made her husband so jumpy.

Tess' whole world is turned upside down when her husband confesses that he has fallen in love with another woman so when she hears that her mother has had an accident she immediately returns home to Sydney with her young son.

Finally there's Rachel whose beloved daughter Janie was killed as a teenager and whose life now revolves around her young grandson so how will she react when her son announces that he's moving to New York with his family leaving her all alone.

At first it's unclear as to how these women are connected but it all becomes clearer as the story progresses until its dramatic conclusion.

This book draws you in from the start with the mystery of the letter as you want to know what was inside, I don't know if I would have had the willpower not to open it as soon as I found it.  Once the letter was opened and the secret revealed, and I will admit to gasping out loud as I didn't expect that, I just had to keep reading late into the night to find out whether the truth would be unveiled and, if so, how it would impact the lives of everyone concerned. 

I haven't read any books by Liane Moriarty before but if the rest are as good as this one is I'll be sure to look out for her other books sometime in the future.