Apples Never Fall
Joy Delaney has built a marriage, four grown children, and a thriving Sydney tennis academy with her husband Stan. Then she disappears, leaving behind a cryptic text and a household full of family members who all knew her differently. Liane Moriarty alternates between the present-day investigation and the months before, including the strange arrival of a young woman named Savannah who showed up bloodied at the Delaneys' door and never quite left. As police circle Stan and the four children pick at one another's old grievances, the novel becomes less a whodunit than a careful x-ray of a long marriage and the way adult siblings keep performing the roles they learned as kids. Sly, observant, and very funny when it wants to be.
Themes & atmosphere
Also by Liane Moriarty
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What you might want to know about Apples Never Fall
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Joy and Stan Delaney are retired tennis coaches with four grown kids and a long marriage when Joy disappears. Each of her children answers the question of what happened in a different way.
Yes. Peacock released a seven-episode adaptation of Apples Never Fall in 2024, starring Annette Bening and Sam Neill. The show follows the novel's structure but condenses some subplots.
No. Apples Never Fall is a standalone novel by Liane Moriarty. Moriarty has written several other standalone family thrillers, including Big Little Lies, Nine Perfect Strangers, and Truly Madly Guilty.
Apples Never Fall was written by Liane Moriarty, published in 2021 by Henry Holt and Company.
Apples Never Fall is 449 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Apples Never Fall takes most readers 7 to 10 hours to finish.
Apples Never Fall is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.