Nicole Kidman And Lily Collins Both Love This Twisty Drama Book

What do stars Nicole Kidman and Lily Collins have in common — besides their acting chops and screen-stealing presence? Sure, they both have killer cheekbones, but there's something else that might surprise you. They've each fallen under the "Big Little Lies," the twisty, acerbic noir by Liane Moriarty about the fault lines beneath upper-middle-class domesticity.

What is it about the 2014 bestseller that's caught the attention of two of Hollywood's sharpest actors? The plot, firstly, is riveting. Opening with a suspicious death at a school trivia night, it then rewinds six months, peeling back layers of everyday suburban life until the slow build of tension snaps. We're met with a murder mystery that keeps this thrilling novel humming. Moriarty's writing is also a potentially big draw. With a staggering 4.31 star rating on Goodreads across more than a million reviews, it's fair to say that her tone hits a sweet spot. As one fan on the platform wrote, "The writing was fantastic: Intelligent, realistic, and held my interest pretty securely."

Another reason it likely resonated with both Kidman and Collins is its unapologetic focus on the female experience. Moriarty deftly navigates the performative politics of school gates and pilates classes, whilst treating its characters' pain with real care. She certainly knows how to write a page-turner, but what really sets her apart is her investment in the daily humiliations and daily compromises that women must swallow to keep going. For stars like Kidman and Collins, who've built their careers inhabiting emotionally complex women, it's not difficult to see how its psychological complexity would make for genuinely rewarding reading. Not bad for a popular thriller book you can still toss in your beach bag.

Even if you haven't yet cracked the spine of "Big Little Lies," there's a good chance you've witnessed its ripple effect. Liane Moriarty's twisty tale of schoolyard politics and buried secrets became one of the peak TV era's biggest hits — thanks to two women who fell hard for the book. It caught the attention of Reese Witherspoon, whose Hello Sunshine production company had begun turning women-led novels into prestige watches. After devouring the book, she passed it to Nicole Kidman (a bibliophile whose favorite books make for an emotional reading list) who was equally enthralled.

"Reese and I got on the phone and we went, this is fantastic," Kidman recalled on the "Books, Beach, & Beyond" podcast. Before long, the pair had an idea for an HBO series. Kidman then sought out Moriarty directly to get her approval for the project, noting that she wanted to do the story justice. "[W]e'll honor everything you've written and we won't mess around in terms of time," Kidman recalled telling the author. That guarantee would soon evolve into one of the decade's most celebrated TV dramas, starring both Kidman and Witherspoon. It's no surprise, then, that "Big Little Lies" remains one of the most successful picks from Reese's Book Club that made it to the screen.

Lily Collins, meanwhile, came to the book purely as a reader. "The drama kept unfolding until the last page," the "Emily in Paris" star told Red magazine, later adding, "Smart and honest, I found myself involved in all of the women's lives and read it in two days flat!" Clearly, Moriarty's particular brand of compulsively readable storytelling cuts through even the busiest Hollywood schedules.