Moriarty, Liane

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Moriarty, Liane

PERSONAL: Born in Australia.

ADDRESSES: Home—Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Agent—c/o Faye Bender, Nicholas Ellison, Inc., 55 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10003.

CAREER: Freelance advertising copywriter, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

WRITINGS:

Three Wishes, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2004.

SIDELIGHTS: Writer Liane Moriarty grew up in Sydney, Australia, the eldest of six children, and was an avid reader from a young age. As an adult, she began to work as an advertising copywriter, her projects ranging from Web site text to catalogs to commercials. Moriarty maintains a freelance copywriting business in addition to writing novels.

Three Wishes recounts the adventures of Australian triplets Cat, Gemma, and Lyn Kettle. The story begins with one sister sticking a fondue fork into another sister's pregnant stomach, then proceeds to flashback to the events that led up to the night of the assault. As Moriarty recounts the turbulence of the sisters' last year, she reveals their personalities and the ways in which they interact. A contributor to Kirkus Reviews found that the "sneering tone and choppy style mar this first novel," while a reviewer for Publishers Weekly remarked that "convenient coincidences and a general predictability don't distract too much from the sassy pleasures." Carolyn Kubisz, in Booklist, commented that Three Wishes was "written with wisdom, humor, and sincerity." In a review for BookLoons.com Rashmi Srinivas wrote that "Moriarty tells this complex, realistic tale from various viewpoints, spices it up with witty remarks, hilarious incidents and engaging characters, and in short, keeps readers captivated," while Jennifer Vilches of BooksforaBuck.com found that "Moriarty's characters are just quirky enough to really care about without being absurd."