She’s a bestselling author, but Liane Moriarty didn’t want to adapt this novel

The Last Anniversary is about a woman finding her way in the world, unexpectedly becoming part of an intriguing community and possibly discovering a place to call home. Along the way, she also finds herself caught up in a mystery. The tale brings together aspects of the lives of two women intimately involved in its creation: bestselling author Liane Moriarty and screenwriter-producer Samantha Strauss.

It’s set on Scribbly Gum Island, a fictional idyll on the Hawkesbury River created by Moriarty. “I came up with the setting first, which is unusual for me,” she explaains. “I’m not good at describing landscapes. But I went on a day trip with my parents to Dangar Island and I was fascinated by the fact that a lot of the residents worked in Sydney but came back via little boats to this amazing place. I thought it would be a wonderful setting for a novel, so I pretended Scribbly Gum would be next door.”

For Strauss, the story has familiar parallels. Years ago, when she was approached to adapt the novel for TV, she was in her late 30s, single and child-free, like its protagonist, Sophie Honeywell. But now, as the six-part series premieres, she’s in her mid-40s and married with a four-year-old, much like another of its characters, Grace. That sense of connection to the characters, and the depiction of them at different stages, represents what she sees as one of the story’s key qualities: a multi-generational perspective that “resonates with a number of chapters in life”.

When we meet Sophie (Teresa Palmer), she’s a 39-year-old journalist with a passion for romance novels and an insistently ticking biological clock. She writes magazine articles headlined “Hip thrusts could be making you infertile” and “Is there love, actually?” and lives alone. She endures disappointing dates with men who briskly ask how many arancini balls she ate after suggesting they split the bill.

However, Sophie’s life changes when she inherits a house on Scribbly Gum. Director John Polson has a dream cast to play the island’s community, including Angela Punch-McGregor and Miranda Richardson as the matriarchs, Connie and Rose Doughty.

Secrets and lies await as Sophie becomes enmeshed in a tangle of relationships. Some involve the Baby Munro case, which day-tripping tourists are informed has been voted the No. 1 unsolved mystery in Australia. It hinges on the disappearance, decades earlier, of Alice and Jack Munro and the discovery of their baby, Enigma, in her cot. Sophie’s adjustment to her new circumstances include persuading her editor she might have a new angle on the case.

Moriarty wrote The Last Anniversary more than two decades ago, but decided the adaptation needed someone “younger and cooler” to steer it. One phone call with Strauss, who created Apple Cider Vinegar for Netflix, convinced her she was the right choice: “She understood the essence of the book.”

Moriarty became hot property globally following the acclaimed 2017 adaptation of her sixth novel, Big Little Lies. Since then, there have been screen versions of Nine Perfect Strangers and Apples Never Fall. A third season of Big Little Lies is under way, as are adaptations of The Husband’s Secret and Here One Moment.

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The success of Big Little Lies had a range of ramifications. “It meant that there were some incredible interludes in my life, and it gave me glimpses into another world,” says Moriarty. “I also felt very lucky because I know other authors have not had such a good experience having their books adapted. They haven’t been made to feel as welcome as I was. And, of course, it brought me many new readers.”

Strauss sees that series as a benchmark: “Having that cast [Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Zoe Kravitz, Shailene Woodley and Laura Dern] in a show about what it means to be a woman, what it means to be a friend, what it means to be in a relationship, and having it as premium drama, with that budget, was a breakthrough. And to have a [domestic abuse] story like Celeste’s that everyone around the world saw, to know how she was feeling and how complicated it was to try to leave her husband.

“With seven episodes, they could play with nuance and Jean-Marc Vallee’s direction and editing were inspirational. Having our stories told on such a scale really helped women.”

Like Big Little Lies, The Last Anniversary focuses on a range of issues affecting its female characters: post-natal depression, sexual harassment, the fears of 30-something women who long to be mothers and the frustrations of those who feel trapped at home.

Moriarty describes her approach to the screen adaptations as “very hands-off”, but she did take a ferry to visit the Last Anniversary set. “It was very hot and humid; my hair went all frizzy,” she says, laughing.

Watching the actors at work has given Moriarty valuable insight. “I discovered that actors are a lot like writers: they observe people in the same way that we observe people and they bring in things from their own lives,” she says. “I wrote down the word ‘gestures’ after watching actors, because I realised that they have to make the characters move. So, to try to find a way of improving my own writing, I thought ‘I’ve got to remember gestures’.”

And while a crime or mystery is often a feature of Moriarty’s stories, Strauss thinks those elements only serve as a “propulsive engine”. She believes the real drawcard is the novelist’s skill with characters.

“What sets Liane’s books apart is the specificity of the characters and the kindness with which they’re drawn,” she says. “A crime or mystery helps raise the stakes and is a hook that pulls you through. But I don’t think these productions would be as special if Liane hadn’t written such nuanced characters. They’re wonderfully flawed and have hang-ups and history, but they’re written with love and forgiveness.

“You go to dark places, but there’s always light around the corner. There’s no meanness in her stories. Difficult things happen, but the spirit isn’t cynical. It’s unlike a lot of things on TV because there’s such warmth to it.”

And while Moriarty happily admits “my books did start selling better once I started killing off some of the characters”, she is more interested in other elements within her stories.

“I’m not interested in writing a police-procedural sort of novel, although I understand the need to keep the reader turning the pages, or the viewer bingeing,” she says. “With Apples Never Fall, I had the mother going missing, but what I was interested in was the children thinking about their parents’ marriage. Then I remember thinking ‘Oh, now the police are going to have to get involved’. But, for me, that wasn’t the point. Sam’s saying exactly what I like to hear, which is that I’m mostly interested in the characters.”

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For Moriarty and Strauss, the characters of Connie and Rose, in their strength and stoicism, represent quintessentially Australian qualities.

“Australians are funny and strong and can be blackly comic,” says Strauss. “We get on with things and we don’t like talking about our feelings. When I look at those women, at my mother and how I remember my grandmother, that’s how I think of them.

“Here, you see the strength and joy, this beautiful life that they’re passing down. But what makes it so powerful is you also see the secrets they’ve been holding and the intergenerational trauma. It makes me feels like I want to sit on the couch with my mum and a cup of tea and watch the show with a warm blanket on my lap.”

The Last Anniversary streams on Binge from March 27.

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