Liane Moriarty on her novel 'Here One Moment' and on writing 'women's fiction'

NPR's Book of the Day

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Books, Arts

4.2 • 672 Ratings

🗓️ 16 July 2025

⏱️ 13 minutes

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Summary

In Liane Moriarty's Here One Moment, a woman on a flight from Tasmania to Sydney, Australia looks around at her fellow passengers and reveals how each of them will die. Moriarty says the idea for the novel – which is now out in paperback – came to her during a time when she was contemplating her own mortality. In today's episode, the author speaks with Here & Now's Robin Young about putting her characters in difficult situations and being known as an author of women's fiction.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Empire's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong.
0:05.5	Leanne Moriarty is one of those authors whose books you see everywhere, not just bookstores,
0:10.6	but big box stores too, Target, Walmart, Costco.
0:14.2	Her latest book is called Here One Moment.
0:17.4	And what's interesting to me is that the premise, if it were written by nearly any other
0:22.1	author, would be packaged and sold at those big box stores as if it were a horror book. But because
0:29.1	she's so closely tied to the genre of women's fiction or chicklet, if you will, her books get
0:36.0	presented in a different way.
0:38.2	Here and now as Robin Young asked her about being known primarily as a writer for a woman,
0:43.1	and Moriarty talks about how she eventually embraced that label of female fiction.
0:49.6	That's up ahead.
0:51.0	On NPR's Wildcard podcast, Jeff Hiller says fans of his character in somebody somewhere
0:55.5	have a slogan.
0:56.9	WWJD. What would Joel do? You know, in the 80s they had what would Jesus do?
1:02.2	You've been deified.
1:06.5	Oh no. This is what brought the Beatles down.
1:09.7	Watch or listen to that wildcard conversation on the NPR app, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:15.7	Are you looking for a big, juicy summary? We have just a ticket, though you may not want to take it on a plane.
1:21.7	We'll explain. But if you do, it will be a lighter lift.
1:25.5	Leanne Moriarty's 500-page bestseller, Here One Moment, is now out in paperback.
1:31.3	She's the Australian author whose books have sold over 20 million worldwide.
1:35.4	Several, the last anniversary, nine perfect strangers, and big little lies made into TV series.
	...

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