The Fifth Letter in Aussie Readers

Jun 11, 2017 Paula Phillips rated it really liked it

Every year Joni, Deb, Trina and Eden get together and spend a holiday together. The four of them have been best friends since they were in high school. Now years later, with families and relationships and jobs, the four of them find it hard to schedule time together. So Joni being the organizer of the group, gets them together for a week away. As a game, the four of them who don't talk to one another as much as they should decide to write a letter confessing their darkest and deepest secrets. Th ...more

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Apr 10, 2018 Mish rated it really liked it

Shelves: australian-authors

Thoroughly entertaining. One of those books that’s ideal to read with a friend or as a group - which is exactly what I did with my friend Kathryn – with so many tricky issues to deliberate and discuss, concerning to marriage, family and the cracks in long time friendships.

Joni was very close with friends Deb, Eden, and Trina; they shared everything together while at high school. Since leaving school the ladies agreed on an annual holiday for a week, with just the four of them. Now in their mid t Thoroughly entertaining. One of those books that’s ideal to read with a friend or as a group - which is exactly what I did with my friend Kathryn – with so many tricky issues to deliberate and discuss, concerning to marriage, family and the cracks in long time friendships.

Joni was very close with friends Deb, Eden, and Trina; they shared everything together while at high school. Since leaving school the ladies agreed on an annual holiday for a week, with just the four of them. Now in their mid thirty’s, married, Deb, Eden and Trina with children of their own, arranging to get away for week is becoming a real effort for them. Joni can sense that her friend’s enthusiasm is failing. And with no children of her own Joni feels that she doesn’t have much in common with the 3 but is still determined to keep the four together.

While on their latest holiday, with booze and weed in their system, one of them came up with a TERRIBLE idea to each share a deep dark secret in the form of an anonymous letter. When the letters are read out, they not working out the way they are meant too. It’s intended to bring them closer, revive their friendship but instead it’s drifted them further apart. These letters do get the ladies talking but not in a good way; some are gossiping, voicing their opinion on so and so’s controlling husband. Some feel a bit betrayed that this person didn’t trust them enough to tell them their secret. While others are left feeling slightly insecure about their parenting skills and marriage. It’s all a complete mess!!

Essentially there should be only 4 letters, but when Joni discovers a 5th letter with hate filled words directed towards someone in the group, (obviously not meant to be read) she certainly becomes uneasy.

This book was a lot of fun, especially trying to work out who wrote what letter, and of course I got it all wrong. But when Joni was faced with the dilemma of the 5th letter I had a firm opinion of what I believe she should do, but I was most curious to know how she was going to handle it. Would she confront her friends about the letter or let it slide?

I found the way the women acted - plus heavy drinking and weed smoking - to be immature at that age. And I know we all like to let our hair down occasionally but I couldn't think of anything worse then getting drunk or high.

Joni was a strange and frustrating person. I couldn’t understand why she was adamant to maintain a friendship with these women whom she felt no connection or nothing in common with. It seemed like it was either habit or she didn’t have any friends of her own. And the same goes for the person who wrote the 5th letter. Why would you continuously go on these getaways and socialise with someone you despise? I would've kept my distance or broken it off gently ages ago!

After a huge build up of the 5th letter I was a little disappointed in the reveal at the end but overall it was an easy and enjoyable read.

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Mar 02, 2017 Bree T rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, women-s-fiction, arc, australian, contemporary, aww2017

This is Nicola Moriarty’s third book and having read and loved her previous two it was one of my highly anticipated early 2017 releases. Her sister Liane has obviously made some huge leaps in popularity with her most recent releases but I think this book could easily stand alongside any of those.

At 12 years of age, Joni befriended Deb, Trina and Eden because they were all in the same homeroom, had surnames beginning with the same letter and were the same star sign. It started off on shaky ground This is Nicola Moriarty’s third book and having read and loved her previous two it was one of my highly anticipated early 2017 releases. Her sister Liane has obviously made some huge leaps in popularity with her most recent releases but I think this book could easily stand alongside any of those.

At 12 years of age, Joni befriended Deb, Trina and Eden because they were all in the same homeroom, had surnames beginning with the same letter and were the same star sign. It started off on shaky ground but over the years became a friendship that survived Eden moving interstate for a while, the transition between school and university/careers as well as marriages and children. Every year it falls to Joni to organise an annual getaway where they leave partners and children behind and just catch up properly, the way that they can’t leading busy lives.

The story is told in several timelines – firstly the girls meeting in high school, and also various moments throughout as well as the time spent in a holiday home where the titular fifth letter is written and also Joni confessing to a priest, talking out the situation that had unfolded after the letter was found but before the author was identified. I actually really enjoyed those passages and thought they added a bit of light humour to the situation.

The idea of the letters seemed disastrous before anyone even wrote one and perhaps alcohol was the reason they all agreed. Interestingly enough, despite the fact that they’ve known each other for twenty years, Joni guesses several of the authors of the letters incorrectly but the others all seem to guess which letter is Joni’s right away. What started off as a bit of a joke turns serious very quickly when the anonymous letters reveal some disturbing things that could easily fracture the friendships – but those are nothing compared to the contents of a the fifth letter, a letter one of them wrote and then attempted to destroy. That letter suggests that one of them could be truly dangerous, thinking thoughts of harm and hatred.

I have to say, I loved the way that this unfolded. Nicola Moriarty really kept me guessing with who wrote the fifth letter and at one stage I was sure I had it figured out – but of course I was wrong. Slowly the book unpicked the friendship piece by piece until you were left wondering how and why they were still friends at all. Was it simply because Joni’s tenacity, which started in forming the group at 12 years of age, never went away? Joni even mentions at one stage that the other women seem to have friends away from this core group – work friends, mothers group friends, etc. As the only one without children, Joni doesn’t seem to have other friends other than these 3 women that she went to school with, whom she formed a relationship with based on the fact that their surnames all began with the same letter and they were the same star sign.

I’m about the same age as the women in the novel – perhaps one or two years older and it made me think about my own friendships. I’ve moved interstate since I finished school and so I wouldn’t say I’m still good “friends” with anyone from my high school group. We all live in very different places – my best friend from school currently lives in Nice after stints in New Zealand, Sydney and country NSW. Her husband has a job that takes them all over the world. Through facebook we are able to stay vaguely in touch with each other’s lives – a marriage here, new baby there, new job etc and it’s the same with my other high school friends. Facebook keeps us up to date with each other but we are no longer what I would call friends. If we were all together still, living in the same place, I wonder how long the friendships would’ve lasted, or would we have just slowly drifted away one by one – or cut people loose as we evolved and changed as adults. Or would there have been a Joni, someone to shepherd the friendship along so that it survived?

I enjoyed everything about this – especially the characters. To be honest, I didn’t really like any of them as such, but I thought that they were so well written with flaws, secrets, jealousies, etc all the ugly little things that we all keep hidden underneath. I loved the mystery of who wrote the fifth letter and the way that it kept me guessing until pretty much the end. ...more

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Mar 10, 2017 Janine rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Really enjoyed this book, first one I have read by Nicola. It brings up so many interesting situations - because you were friends as teenagers, will that friendship carry over into adulthood with so many other parties involved (eg. husbands & children). It was a tiny bit slow to start, but I quickly found myself being reeled in by the story of the four friends and eventually the mysterious fifth letter. So much in this book anyone could relate to - friendship, dysfunctional families, jealousy, e ...more

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Feb 25, 2017 Cathy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

When I read the above description of the book I thought that it was going to be a pretty interesting read.

It tells the story of four women who first meet at high school and become good friends. They stay friends for over 20 years and one of the things that they do is go on an annual holiday together. One holiday is described in the book. On this holiday they decide to write a letter each and share a secret with one another. However one of the women ends up writing two letters as she believes th ...more

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Feb 24, 2017 Tien rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, womens-lit, australian-author, own, contemporary, australia, mm-17

Do you have a group of best friends? Do they know everything about you or do you think you know all there is to know about each other? I have a group of my own best friends; four of us grew close during high school – almost like Joni, Deb, Eden, & Trina. Like them, 3 of us are married with children and one has just found The One and about to tie the knot in a few months’ time. *sniffs – am so very happy for her*

The beginning of their friendship is almost laughable. It was pointed out to them tha Do you have a group of best friends? Do they know everything about you or do you think you know all there is to know about each other? I have a group of my own best friends; four of us grew close during high school – almost like Joni, Deb, Eden, & Trina. Like them, 3 of us are married with children and one has just found The One and about to tie the knot in a few months’ time. *sniffs – am so very happy for her*

The beginning of their friendship is almost laughable. It was pointed out to them that they all have 2 things in common: surnames starting with “C” and their star signs (Scorpios). It’s not the silliest thing that have begun deep friendships, of course, but this was the basis that Joni decided that the four of them are meant to be best friends forever. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the most innocent start of the group…

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Years later, they were still good friends. They see each other regularly and even have girls weekend away sometimes. This weekend though, things rather fell apart. They decided to each write an anonymous letter of secrets to tell each other. It really wasn’t that easy to be anonymous when you know each other well and in addition to that, Joni found a fifth letter with a rather menacing tone. What is she to do with it? Is she supposed to do anything about it?

I really enjoyed the beginning of The Fifth Letter. The stage was being set with Joni finding the letter, her confessional conversation with a Catholic priest, then flashbacks to their teen years. I started smiling on page 3 and found at the end of my train trip, that I still had a wide smile on my face. It wasn’t just funny but the flashbacks also remind me of my own memories of my friends. I didn’t actually like any of these 4 ladies even though I can identify/empathise with all of them in one thing or another. Joni, being the main protagonist and whose perspective we read from, can be very frustrating! She is lovely really but oh, she can be so blind! In saying that, however, I also couldn’t really pick the fifth letter writer. And that precious ending, oh wow, I was literally choking with laughter!

What began as a rather humorous and reminiscing read, this novel took a turn into a dark complex of human emotions. These women each have their own issues which they feel they cannot voice yet that is the first step towards healing. The Fifth Letter engages the reader to look beyond the surface, to check our unrealistic expectations of women and see them as a person, an individual, who is not perfect (no one is perfect) and needs loving supports.

Thank you, Nicola Moriarty, for this novel and the chance to reflect of my own friendships. Like Joni, Deb, Eden, & Trina, I’m sure that we do not know everything about each other and that’s okay… I am certain, however, that none of us harbours any ill will towards anyone in the group :D

Thank you Harper Collins Publishers Australia for providing paperback copy in exchange of honest review
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