After reading a few of her novels, I’ve finally brought myself back around to Liane Moriarty! I got off of a short wait list to read her latest novel, Nine Perfect Strangers. And boy was it exciting! I finished it in three days, which is incredibly fast for me.
As the title suggests, the story follows the lives, perspectives, and personal thoughts of nine perfect strangers who have all decided to spend ten days on a health retreat at a house in the middle of nowhere. All scattered throughout Australia, these people seem totally different from one another, and it’s clear Liane wants us to notice their initial judgement without knowing their backstories.
And they’ve all got some interesting lives, let me tell you. There’s a couple who’s won the lottery, a family who lost a teen to suicide, an outdated author who was hardcore Catfished, and a has-been athlete among others. They all decide it’s time to be transformed. Their guide is an ethereal-looking Russian woman named Masha, who’s got her own complicated past. If they ever adapted this into a film, Tilda Swinton is the only person I could ever picture playing her.
The activities that take place at this health retreat are already way out of my comfort zone, and that’s before it takes the most unexpected twist! While I was shocked, there was a part of me that thought maybe this kind of thing actually happens in real life. I truly hope not. Anyway, that’s all I’m going to say for fear of ruining it for you, but it’s a real page-turner and I highly recommend you give it a read.