Do we like Liane Moriarty?
Our score: 7 out of 10. A clean record on both tests and some good signs, but little public record on causes or politics, so we can't score her higher.
Liane Moriarty is the Sydney writer who turned overheard playground-style gossip into a global industry. She came to books from a marketing background, and Big Little Lies grew out of a friend's story about two little girls being bitten at school, which set off a dispute among parents and teachers.
The success has been enormous. She has sold more than 20 million books, and several of her novels became limited TV series starring Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Annette Bening and Meryl Streep. Big Little Lies was commissioned for TV by Witherspoon and Kidman. Critics sneered at her books as chick lit, and she pushed back on that label.
On the harm test, we found nothing nasty. No anti-LGBTQ+ campaigning, no culture-war grievance, no conspiracy posts, no dodgy collaborators. Her public commentary is mostly about writing. She has said her books are “probably too white” and that “we do need more diversity”, and she called it a tricky time to be a writer, with criticism either way.
On the good-person test, we found no lawsuits, convictions or accusations against her. She doesn't seem to chase fame. She told the New York Times, “I don’t want to be the product”, and is described as self-deprecating and uneasy with publicity, though she values connecting with readers. She has also spoken about sexism she met in her career, saying some things would not have happened had she been a man.
The recent news is Big Little Truths, the sequel to her 2014 novel, which has also been tied to a third season of the HBO series. We read the radio interview page but found no quotable comments on politics or the book beyond the premise. So for the good stuff, we can say she is a hugely loved author who has supported diversity in publishing in her own words, but we couldn't verify charity work with a dated source.
Overall, she passes both tests, but the evidence is thin. Nothing she has said or done is at odds with the page's values. That's a big tick for a bestselling author, even if we don't have a long record of her standing up for causes.