Three Wishes Liane Moriarty Analysis

Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty is set in modern day Australia. It begins with multiple accounts of a brawl that took place at a restaurant. Those engaged in the brawl, according to witness accounts, are triplets, who are celebrating their birthday at the restaurant. Their names are Cat, Lyn, and Gemma Kettle. Three Wishes provides the backstory of the triplets leading up to the night they fought one another at the restaurant.

The reader learns that Cat’s husband, Dan, has told her that he’s been unfaithful. He had a one-night stand with another woman, whom he met in a bar. Lyn grows angry with Dan for his deceit, despite the fact that she met her husband, Michael, while he was currently married to someone else. Meanwhile, Charlie, a locksmith, calls and wakes Gemma. They had planned to go on a date the night before, but Gemma stood him up. Gemma ends up going out with Charlie though, after he comes over to her house. The triplets seek out Angela—the woman with whom Dan had a one-night stand, to ask her for directions. Dan has more secrets though. …show more content…
In a marriage counseling session with Cat, he reveals to her that before they were married, before they started dating even, he slept with Lyn, Cat’s sister. When confronted with this, Lyn insists she thought Cat already knew about her and Dan’s tryst. With Christmas rolling around, Lyn offers to host the holiday for the triplets’ whole family at her house. Gemma decides to bring Charlie, whom she refers to as her boyfriend, so he can meet the family. By the time Lyn’s Christmas party happens, Cat learns that she’s pregnant. Dan tells her he wants to keep the baby. When Charlie’s sister’s car breaks down, the party gets a little larger because Charlie brings her along to Lyn’s house—but it turns out that his sister is Angela. Cat insists that Gemma break up with Charlie because of this. To add to the holiday confusion, the triplets’ parents, Frank and Maxine, make an announcement that though they’re divorced, they’ve decided to start dating again. After the holiday, Cat endures a miscarriage. Then, her relationship with Dan takes another hit when she checks his phone bill and sees that he’s been calling Angela. Since he told Cat it was only a one-night stand, her trust in him is shattered again, and she tells him to move out. Gemma breaks things off with Charlie. After all the revelations over the holiday, Lyn starts to have panic attacks and finds consolation in Joe, her ex-boyfriend, in whom she confides—even though she’s married to Michael. When Gemma learns that she’s pregnant, she decides to keep it from Charlie because she doesn’t plan on keeping the baby. But rather than place it up for adoption with a family she doesn’t know or getting an abortion, Gemma suggests that Cat adopt the baby. Cat agrees. At their birthday dinner, Gemma reveals to Cat that she’s had a change of heart. She wants to keep and raise her and Charlie’s baby. In response, Cat throws a fork at Gemma; the fork stabs Gemma in the stomach, causing her to start bleeding. Cat faints, and when she falls, she breaks her jaw. The altercation causes