RECOVERING BY THE BOOK: Liane's shock diagnosis

Words nearly failed the author when she receive her test results

- Wendyl Nissen

Best-selling author Liane Moriarty often turns life events into ideas for one of her successful novels. But there is one ordeal she's not ready to write about and that is her diagnosis of breast cancer.

Early last year, Liane went for a mammogram, which she could easily have put off as Australia, like New Zealand, was enduring Covid lockdowns.

"I was literally a week late with my mammogram, so I'm very glad that I made the effort to get it done," she says. "I have breast cancer in the family, so I knew I couldn't miss a check-up. It was picked up quite early and I was very lucky."

Liane had radiation therapy and surgery, and has used her experience to encourage other women not to miss their mammogram appointment.

"I could easily have left it with the pandemic and so much else going on," she recalls. "If I'd left it for another year, it would have been quite different."

In the past, Liane has used experiences in her life as research for her stories.

"I had unexplained leg pain for a long time. I gave that experience to the character in The Hypnotist's Love Story. So, each time I go into another doctor's surgery or see a physio, I don't feel like it is a waste of time because I might get some material from it," she laughs.