Nicola Moriarty
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Nicola Moriarty

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Nicola Moriarty is a Sydney-based novelist, copywriter and mum to two bright, kind (and remarkably strong-willed) teenagers. In between various career changes, becoming a mum and completing her Bachelor of Arts, she began to write. Now she can’t seem to stop. Nicola’s books have sold more than a quarter of a million copies worldwide. Her published works include the novels, Free-Falling, Paper Chains, The Fifth Letter, Those Other Women, The Ex, You Need to Know and Every Last Suspect. She has been published around the world and several of her novels have been optioned for film and television. Apart from writing, her passions include chocolate and soccer (in that order).

At age 11, her primary school teacher, Mr Bamford wrote these words on her school report: “Nicola has a gift to be able to write excellent stories in a short period of time.” Nicola has taken these words to heart ever since and has also interpreted them to mean that she can always leave her writing until the very last minute before her deadline.

Her first two novels, Free-Falling and Paper Chains were published by Random House Australia in 2012 and 2013. Free-Falling was translated into Dutch and German and was awarded the title of ‘Best Australian Debut’ from Chicklit Club. Paper Chains was later picked up for publishing in the U.S. by HarperCollins and was released there in 2019.

Her romance novella Captivation was released both as an e-book and in print as part of a collection of romance stories titled, All My Love. She has since concluded that romance writing is not her thing. She also wrote two travel themed short stories for the U.K. Sunlounger anthologies, which were Amazon bestsellers.

While completing a BA with a major in writing at Macquarie University, she was awarded the Fred Rush Convocation prize for creative writing / literary criticism in Australian literature.

In 2017, Nicola released her third novel, The Fifth Letter. Published by HarperCollins in both Australia and the U.S. and by Penguin in the U.K, The Fifth Letter was a Top Ten Bestseller in Australia with Australian Women's Weekly calling it 'a pacey, circle-of-friends thriller'; while the UK's Sun on Sunday said, 'With secrets and intrigue, this is a compulsive read.' It was The Librarian's Choice top pick and was featured in Popsugar's Best Books for Fireside Reading plus their Favourite Books for the Year. It also just snuck onto the USA Today Best seller list! It was translated into German, Dutch and Hungarian. Film and television rights for The Fifth Letter were optioned by Universal Cable Productions.

Nicola’s fourth novel, Those Other Women was released in Australia, the US and the UK in 2018, and was an Amazon best seller. It was also translated into Hungarian. Marian Keyes had this to say about it: ‘I devoured it, loved it and totally escaped into it … Fun and topical’, while Publishers Weekly called it a 'darkly droll page-turner' and Heat described it as 'an extremely twisty tale of obsession and revenge.'

In 2019, Nicola brought out her fifth novel, The Ex (known as The Ex-Girlfriend in the UK). The Ex was also translated into Dutch and several producers were chasing film rights before it even hit the shelves, with the rights being optioned by an Australian company later that year. It also made it to #25 on the Better Reading top 100 books for 2019 and to #15 on the Booktopia favourite Australian books for 2019. The Sunday Telegraph called it "an absorbing, terrifying tale that perfectly captures the zeitgeist."

Nicola’s next novel, You Need to Know was released in Australia and the UK in 2021 and was translated into French, Dutch and Latvian. It hit the top ten bestseller list in Australia and The Sydney Morning Herald had this to say about You Need to Know: “Moriarty has a gift for domestic drama, cracking pace, and skilful narrative timing.”

Her latest novel, Every Last Suspect was released in Australia and the UK in 2024 and will soon be translated into Dutch. It debuted at #12 on the Australian Bestseller list and was also the #1 Best selling Australian fiction title for the first three weeks after it was released. Books + Publishing called it "Moriarty's best yet."

She has four older sisters and one older brother and she lives in constant fear of being directly compared to her two wildly successful and extraordinarily talented author sisters, Liane Moriarty and Jaclyn Moriarty. Unless of course, the comparison is something kind, perhaps along the lines of, “Liane, Jaci and Nicola are all wonderful writers. I love all of their books equally.”

Other things of note are Nicola’s lack of fine motor skills, demonstrated by her inability to thread keys onto key-rings, tie balloons, braid hair and apply eyeliner. If you have taken the time to read this far, she would very much like to send you a Freddo Frog to show her appreciation. But she probably won’t follow through, because she’ll most likely eat all the Freddo Frogs before she gets the chance to post them. Sorry, she does mean well.
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Best Sellers

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  • The Fifth Letter cover art
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    • The Fifth Letter

    • A gripping novel of friendship and secrets from the bestselling author of The Ex-Girlfriend
    • By: Nicola Moriarty
    • Narrated by: Natasha Jacobs
    • Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins
    • Release date: 24-01-17
    • Language: English
    • 24 ratings

    £8.62 or free with trial. Auto-renews at £5.99/month after trial. See eligibility.

  • The Ex-Girlfriend cover art
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  • Every Last Suspect cover art
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  • You Need to Know cover art
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  • Free-Falling cover art
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  • Those Other Women cover art
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  • Paper Chains cover art
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  • You Need to Know cover art
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  • Il faut que tu saches cover art
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