Liane Moriarty's new novel asks what you would do if someone predicted your death

22:40Liane Moriarty: What would you do if someone predicted your death?

If you knew how and when you would die, what would you do? In Liane Moriarty's new novel, Here One Moment, the acclaimed Australian author explores the themes of fate and control.

The inspiration for the novel came to her while on a domestic flight from Hobart, Tasmania. The plane was stuck on the tarmac, and Moriarty didn't have a book on her, so she let her imagination entertain her.

As she looked around at the other passengers, a thought came to her: every single passenger on the plane would one day die.

"I was thinking, 'So will you be the one who makes it to 100, or will you be the one whose life is unexpectedly cut short?,'" Moriarty recalls in an interview with Q's Tom Power. "That's when it occurred to me that one day in the future, that information would be available … the cause of death and the age of death. And that's when I thought, imagine if somebody stood up and shared that information right now."

That's exactly what happens in Here One Moment. Once the flight is in the air, an older woman gets out of her seat, stands in the aisle and begins pointing at the other passengers, predicting their time and cause of death, one by one.

'The adaptations are quite separate from the books'

Several of Moriarty's previous novels have been adapted for TV, including Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers. She says it can be "surreal and strange" seeing her characters come to life onscreen.

"It's not like I'm seeing them exactly as I saw them," she tells Power. "I find it really interesting because I know it's probably not the way that every reader saw them either."

While fans worry that adaptations will change the books, Moriarty believes that TV and film versions exist as separate entities. With Big Little Lies, she differentiates between the character of Celeste that's in her mind's eye and Nicole Kidman's interpretation of the same character. "I enjoy both of them," Moriarty says.

"For me, the adaptations are quite separate from the books," she adds, explaining that she's rarely involved in the process. "I feel a little bit detached and I'm more like an interested bystander."

The full interview with Liane Moriarty is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. She also talks about the cancer scare that shaped her thoughts on fate, how her dad gave her $1.00 to write her first novel, and how she blocks out the pressure that comes with success. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview with Liane Moriarty produced by Lise Hosein.