Paper Chains

July 29, 2019
The lives of two women intersect in Moriarty’s heart-tugging story (following Those Other Women) of confronting questionable choices. Twenty-eight-year-old Australian Hannah Privitelli has moved to London and is working at a museum gift shop. She believes she has made a cruel decision that has destroyed her life
, and aside from work, she spends her only day off jogging, trying to escape her own guilt. India Calder, a woman about Hannah’s age, shows up at the gift shop one day and becomes determined to help Hannah. It’s what India does; when she senses someone is troubled, she helps them and then moves on. Hannah is resistant, but India is persistent, pointing out that they’re both Australians temporarily living in London, and a friendship develops. The question becomes not whether one can help the other, but whether both can find a way to heal the secret each is hiding. It’s difficult to decide which of the two vibrantly described personalities is more impulsive or more secretive. Dynamic prose makes the pages turn and then subsequently fly by when twists arise. Moriarty’s novel is both fast-paced and immersive.

September 1, 2019

Moriarty (The Fifth Letter) returns with a story of friendship, family, and broken hearts. India is a traveler drawn to those who seem damaged, determined to draw out deep secrets and fix all the broken people she can before moving on to the next town, the next country, the next continent. When she encounters Hannah in a museum shop, frozen with panic at a young child's temper tantrum, it looks like her next project is being delivered on a platter. Hannah turns out to be a tough nut to crack, though, and both women are in for surprises on this journey of their newfound friendship. The bond of Aussie transplants living in London is a connection that forges their initial alliance, but will it hold up as India pushes to learn Hannah's secrets? Will India's free-spirited nature withstand Hannah's insecurity and resolute self-punishment? While the two grow closer, India sends letters out into the world in an unconventional manner, starting a romantic movement. VERDICT By turns delightful and heartrending, this is a lovely read for fans of Marian Keyes and Jane Green.--Julie Kane, Washington & Lee Lib., Lexington, VA

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2019
Moriarty's latest (after Those Other Women, 2018) mixes the strong ties of friendship with suspense. Hannah and India become fast friends when they meet in a London gift shop and learn they're both from Australia. India is sure that Hannah's running from something and makes it her mission to help Hannah face up to it. Not that India plans to share her own secret. Instead, she writes it in a letter that she sends via other travelers, hoping it might reach its destination. It will take more than luck, however, for either woman to move forward. India, an independent spirit who can't stay in one place, is determined to convince the fearful Hannah she doesn't deserve to punish herself. Everything appears effortless for India, but it's Hannah who teaches her the value of true friendship. While the end ties up a little too neatly as the result of lucky happenstance, Moriarty keeps the pages turning with her depiction of two women who need a friend to let their secrets free. Readers who enjoy unpredictability alongside happy endings will approve.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)