PENGUIN Three Wishes: From the bestselling author of Big Little Lies, now an award winning TV series

Cat, Lyn and Gemma are triplets. They live life to the full and very often in public. At one birthday dinner which has been getting louder and louder there is an altercation and one sister ends up in hospital. The book then backtracks through the period before the argument and shows what led up to it and what happens afterwards. At the beginning of each section the author also includes an event from the sisters' lives which was also lived out in public but told from the point of view of a bystander - the main narrative usually then describes the event again during the course of the story from the sisters' point of view. This sounds complicated but it isn't. The book is well crafted and the idea that the three sisters have all their major life events in public is clever and unusual.The book is the story of the three sisters and their various life problems but particularly focussing on their relationship with each other and how that impacts on things. The sisters are intelligent and capable women but each has a life issue to be dealt with or overcome and the story also features their estranged parents and their grandmother. A lot of this is reasonably familiar ground for the readers of "women's fiction" but Liane Moriarty writes with wit and a wry humour which definitely elevates it above many other offerings in this genre.I enjoyed this book a lot. It is a light read but involving and although I would probably not particularly like to know this family in real life I definitely engaged with them and their problems, hoping all the way through for a heart warming and uplifting ending. I have read all of this author's output and was aware that this is actually her first published novel. I don't think her inexperience shows in the writing but I have become used to the way that she often turns books around with a clever twist or a sudden revelation. This book doesn't do that and to some extent it, therefore, disappointed - but it was only a disappointment in comparison to this author's other novels and my expectations not when compared with other writers. If I had read it as the first of her books I would probably have been more delighted with it - this is a bit unfair on the author but it is my reading experience.

I did not enjoy this book! Of the three sisters, I found Cat the easiest to empathise with - which resulted in frustration throughout the book as more and more unhappiness befell the character, with only a hint of optimism at the very end. I found her family's lack of understanding and sympathy towards her heart-breaking situation irritating in the extreme! I kept waiting for some hideous outcome for Dan and Angela .... and waited and waited.I did not see the point of the veiled references to the abuse suffered by Gemma at the hands of her dead fiancé - as this aspect of the story was not explored sufficiently.As for the 3rd sister, with her episodes of panic - perhaps had she not stolen someone else's husband and had a Perfect Life, Perfect Home, Perfect Relationship, I may have cared. As it was, I didn't.All in all a wholly dissatisfying story and I certainly won't be buying anything by this writer again.

I initially felt a little disgruntled on realising that this apparently 2016 novel, which I had assumed was Moriarty's most recent book, was in fact a reprint and the novel had originally been published in 2003. It was a little slow to get going and initially I wasn't keen but soon became hooked and it was one of those books I did not want to come to an end. The range of characters is not too wide so it is easy enough to keep track of who is who although I did occasionally struggle to remember which of the triplets was which - initially a more detailed character portrayal would have been useful. The pace of the novel is fast and the dialogue is convincing and realistic. I liked all three of the women and unlike some previous reviewers I did care about what happened to them. There are some lovely touches of humour here as well and I did laugh out loud on a number of occasions. The novel was a little too short and I would have loved more! This is a thoroughly enjoyable read and I thought it was fabulous!

Struggled between 2 & 3 stars. Took 4 attempts to get into this book. 3 annoying women and not much story line. Book could have been half the size. Filled with pointless rubbish you didn't need to know about. I don't know. Just did not care what happened. With no big finale; all seemed .... a let down. I think there are better books out there with actual storylines.

I really enjoy all of Liane Moriarty's books. This didn't have as many twists or turns, but the characters all had depth and the story kept me engaged. It's not as good as big little lies, my husbands secret or what Alice forgot, but definitely still worth a read.