In Australian writer Liane Moriarty’s newest book, Here One Moment, a clairvoyant soon to be known as “The Death Lady” walks around an airplane dishing out unsolicited predictions. “Cause of death. Age of death,” she mutters on a flight from Hobart to Sydney. To a young newlywed wife, for example, it’s “intimate partner homicide. Age 25.” To a screaming babe in arms, “Drowning. Age 7.” To the non-depressed stewardess, 28, self-harm next year. On it goes: catastrophic stroke, 72; heart disease, 84; pancreatic cancer, 66; snakebite, 46 (remember, this is Australia). The woman points ominously at each passenger, repeating, “fate won’t be fought!”
But can it? Do we control destiny or does destiny control us? That’s the question on Moriarty’s mind – and all of humanity since the beginning of time, really – and the ultimately unsolvable premise of Here One Moment. When some of the psychic’s predictions start coming true, the believers start flipping out, while the non-believers question their skepticism. “You won’t necessarily win against fate,” writes Moriarty, “but you should at least put up a fight.”
So where does Moriarty land on the matter? Zoomer found the bestselling author en route to the airport as she embarks on a tour for her 10th adult book. Among those are Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers, both made into prestige TV series starring fellow Aussie Nicole Kidman. Here One Moment’s probably next, but first, our conversation on ways to die in Australia, whether Moriarty’s ever seen a psychic and if she’d want to know when the grim reaper’s coming for her.
Rosemary Counter: Calling an Australian cell phone from a cottage in Muskoka isn’t easy! I’m glad I finally found you.
Liane Moriarty: Well, it didn’t help that I gave you an extra digit. What’s Muskoka like?
RC: It’s cottage country for Torontonians. Have you been to Canada?
LM: A couple of times, actually. I was skiing at Lake Louise and I’ve come through a few times on book tours. I’ll actually be in Toronto to speak in a couple of weeks [at the Toronto International Festival of Authors] as part of this book tour. I’m right at the beginning, so it’s just domestic so far. I used to complain about the touring part of my job, but then the pandemic happened and, just for a moment, I thought I might never get to meet my readers ever again and have them tell me they liked my work. I felt such a sense of loss. So, I’m grateful now. I’m actually in the car, headed to the airport right now.
RC: How do you feel about flying after writing this book?
LM: It’s … fine. Still not my favourite thing, but it’s not so bad. Ann Napolitano wrote Dear Edward about a plane crash with these amazing details and descriptions. So it could be much worse.
RC: Tell me where the idea for Here One Moment came from?
LM: Just like in the book, I was sitting on a delayed flight, looking around at all the other passengers. It was a time in my life that I was really contemplating my own mortality, having been diagnosed with breast cancer, and I was suddenly aware that some day I was going to die. So was everyone around me, though. Everyone on this flight was going to die, somehow, sometime.
RC: Your clairvoyant main character, Cherry, is walking around the plane predicting how and when everyone will die. How do you think you’d react to that?
LM: I’d be deeply skeptical, first of all. But really it would depend on the prediction. I think we all secretly believe, or at least hope, we’ll die very old, so, if that was my prediction, then I’d want to believe it. If she said I’d die next year, however, then I wouldn’t want to. I don’t believe anything’s predetermined though. It’s such an easy philosophy to believe in, because it absolves you from responsibility. Anything that happened was going to happen anyway. It’s not my fault!
RC: I guess you’ve never seen a psychic?
LM: Only once, and only for the purpose of this book. I went to see a lady who had great reviews; she’s booked months and months in advance. You could tell she immediately clocked me as a particular sort of person and hit on some key points. “Now is the time to focus on you,” for example. I wanted to say, “Nope! It’s always been about me!” Then she asked what I did for a living and I said I was a writer, and she predicted I’d do pretty well and suggested I sell my books on eBay. She did say that my daughter “liked the finer things in life.” That’s true.
RC: Mine too! She’s seven.
LM: The whole generation, probably. Have you ever seen a psychic?
RC: I saw a particularly spooky one in Salem, Mass. Highly recommended! What about premonitions? Ever had one of those?
LM: Yes, I have, and that’s where I do start to think maybe there’s something going on here. My grandmother used to have dreams about people who’d died, and then a few days later someone she knew would die. This story’s very unreliable though. I’d like to know how many times she had the dream and nobody died. I’m not superstitious like that. But right now my son keeps saying that he’s never broken a limb and never will; my husband and I lose our minds a bit every time. We very seriously tell him not to say that and knock on wood, as if it makes a difference.
RC: I know all your books are set in Australia, but this one’s particularly helpful since there are so many exciting ways to die! Snakes, sharks, blowholes, riptides …
LM: That’s funny! To me, those are all very normal. You’ve got bears!
RC: I don’t think I’ve seen a wild bear in my whole life.
LM: When I was on one of my trips to Canada, I took a walk in the woods and was in a state of terror the whole time. I’d read something about ringing a bell if you see a bear so I was shouting, “ring! ring!” I don’t think that would have protected me though; I’d be dead for sure. This book had me doing a lot of research about all the ways you can die, if you can’t tell.
RC: I sure can. The whole time I was reading, I was going back and forth about whether or not I’d want to know when I was going to die. What would you choose?
LM: I’d only want to know if it was good, and of course it doesn’t work that way, so therefore I guess I don’t want to know. I think anybody who got a terrible diagnosis that death was imminent would try to fight it, and if we’re saying we can’t fight it, then I don’t want to know.
RC: I would want to know, so I can live accordingly.
LM: I like that, actually. Now I do want to know. If everyone else is finding out, then I want to find out, too. I’m changing my answer. You’ve convinced me.
