The Last Anniversary

The Last Anniversary Plot Summary

Introduction

# Secrets of Scribbly Gum: Inheritance, Mystery, and Second Chances The phone call came on an ordinary Tuesday, shattering Sophie Honeywell's mundane existence like glass against stone. Thomas Gordon's voice carried an impossible weight—his Aunt Connie had died, and somehow she had left Sophie her house. Not just any house. The cottage on Scribbly Gum Island, where Australia's most famous unsolved mystery had captivated the nation for seventy years. At thirty-nine and painfully single, Sophie had resigned herself to a life of borrowed dreams and rented apartments. The inheritance felt like a fairy tale, complete with Aunt Connie's cryptic letter hinting at romance waiting in her new life. But fairy tales come with complications. The island held secrets darker than tourist brochures suggested, and some mysteries were never meant to be solved. As Sophie packed her belongings for a life she had never dared imagine, she couldn't know that her arrival would unravel decades of carefully guarded lies, expose a family's desperate deception, and force her to choose between the love she thought she wanted and the truth she never expected to find.

Chapter 1: An Unexpected Inheritance: Sophie's New Beginning

Sophie stood in the doorway of the honey-colored cottage, keys trembling in her hand. The jasmine archway framed her like a portal between worlds—behind her, the sterile predictability of corporate life, ahead, something that felt dangerously close to hope. Aunt Connie's house smelled of lavender and secrets, every room whispering of lives lived fully. Thomas Gordon watched her explore with careful eyes. Three years had passed since their relationship ended, yet here he was, delivering an inheritance that made no sense. His family was divided—some welcoming Sophie's arrival, others questioning her motives. Had she somehow manipulated a lonely old woman? The guilt gnawed at Sophie even as she traced the carved eucalyptus cornices with wondering fingers. Veronika Gordon, Thomas's razor-sharp sister, made her position clear from the start. She declared war over the inheritance with the precision of a surgeon and the mercy of a shark. The family money, the family legacy, now rested in the hands of an outsider who had visited the island exactly three times. Veronika's theories about Sophie's manipulation grew more elaborate with each family gathering, poisoning the air with suspicion. But the house itself seemed to embrace Sophie. Morning light danced across the river from every window, bellbirds chimed their welcome from the scribbly gum trees, and for the first time in years, she could breathe. The island's permanent residents—barely a dozen souls—had lived with their shared secrets for so long that an outsider's presence felt both threatening and liberating. Sophie sensed undercurrents she couldn't understand, conversations that stopped when she entered rooms, meaningful glances exchanged between the elderly residents who had known Connie best. As she unpacked her belongings in rooms that felt more like home than anywhere she had ever lived, Sophie wondered what Aunt Connie had seen in her that she couldn't see in herself. The answer, she suspected, lay somewhere in the island's famous mystery—the disappearance of Alice and Jack Munro that had made Scribbly Gum a household name across Australia.

Chapter 2: Ghosts of the Past: The Munro Baby Mystery

The island's fame rested on a tragedy that had never been solved. In 1932, Alice and Jack Munro had vanished without a trace from their cottage, leaving behind a boiling kettle, a marble cake cooling on the counter, and a baby girl sleeping peacefully in her crib. Two teenage sisters, Connie and Rose Doughty, had discovered the scene and raised the abandoned child as their own. That baby became Enigma McNabb, now seventy-three and the island's beloved matriarch. Every year, hundreds of visitors came to see the Alice and Jack house, preserved exactly as it was found. The bloodstains on the kitchen floor had been carefully maintained, the baby's indentation still visible in the pillow, the crossword puzzle left half-finished on the table. The mystery had made the Doughty family wealthy, turning their small island into a thriving business built on unanswered questions. Sophie found herself giving tours of the preserved cottage, reciting the familiar story to wide-eyed tourists. She learned to point out the significant details—the teacup still sitting on the windowsill, the boat that had never returned to its mooring, the complete absence of any clue about where Alice and Jack had gone or why they had left their baby behind. The story felt rehearsed, polished smooth by decades of retelling. But Veronika Gordon had developed her own theory about the Munro mystery, one that cast Aunt Connie as a murderer rather than a savior. She believed Connie had killed Alice and Jack in a jealous rage, then built her life on the foundation of their bones. The accusation seemed absurd, but something in the way Rose and Enigma exchanged glances when the subject arose made Sophie wonder what truths lay buried beneath the carefully crafted legend. The island's elderly residents deflected uncomfortable questions with knowing smiles and cryptic comments about revealing the truth "when you're forty." Now, with Connie gone and Sophie asking questions no one wanted to answer, the carefully maintained facade began to crack. Some secrets, it seemed, were too dangerous to take to the grave.

Chapter 3: Silent Suffering: Grace's Desperate Plan

Grace Tidyman stood at her kitchen window, watching her husband Callum return from work across the darkening river. To the outside world, she possessed everything—stunning beauty, a devoted husband, a healthy baby, and a promising career as a children's book illustrator. But inside her perfect life, something had gone terribly, irreparably wrong. Motherhood had not brought the expected joy. When she looked at her son Jake, she felt nothing but crushing responsibility and barely contained rage. The baby's cries scraped against her nerves like fingernails on glass. She found herself imagining unspeakable violence, her hands trembling as she fought against impulses that horrified her. This wasn't the gentle melancholy of postpartum depression—this was something darker, more dangerous. Callum remained obliviously devoted, still seeing the woman he had fallen in love with rather than the hollow shell she had become. His touches felt like weights dragging her deeper into a performance she could no longer sustain. She had stopped touching him entirely, her body recoiling from any contact that might reveal the emptiness within. At night, she lay rigid beside him, counting the hours until dawn would bring another day of pretending to be human. The solution came to her with crystalline clarity when she met Sophie Honeywell. Here was a woman who lit up around babies, who made Callum laugh in ways Grace had forgotten, who possessed the warmth and joy that Grace had never truly felt. Sophie would be a better mother, a better wife. All Grace needed to do was arrange for them to fall in love, then remove herself from the equation. Her severe nut allergy provided the perfect method—quick, clean, and easily disguised as an accident. She began laying the groundwork with calculated precision, orchestrating dinners and casual encounters, watching with satisfaction as Callum's face lit up in Sophie's presence. Each interaction pushed them closer together, closer to the moment when Grace could finally stop pretending and let the darkness take her.

Chapter 4: Island of Secrets: Family Bonds and Betrayals

Sophie's integration into island life created ripples that spread through the tight-knit community like stones thrown into still water. Rose and Enigma, the island's ancient guardians, embraced her with surprising warmth, pressing house keys into her hands before the legal paperwork was even complete. But their welcome came with whispered warnings and half-finished sentences that hinted at knowledge too dangerous to share. Rose, increasingly fragile since Connie's death, began dropping hints about truths they would reveal when Sophie turned forty. Her ethereal blue eyes held secrets that made Enigma panic whenever the old woman's tongue loosened. During their dawn swims in the icy river, Rose would start to speak of the past, then catch herself, leaving Sophie with fragments of stories that made no sense. Margie Gordon, Thomas and Veronika's mother, found in Sophie a kindred spirit who shared her secret addiction to reality television and her struggles with self-worth. As Margie shed pounds at Weight Watchers meetings, she also began shedding the submissive persona that had defined her marriage to the cruel and dismissive Ron. Her transformation from doormat to confident woman paralleled Sophie's own journey from lonely singleton to island resident. But it was Sophie's growing friendship with Grace and Callum that created the most dangerous undercurrents. What began as neighborly dinners and casual conversations slowly evolved into something more complex. Sophie found herself drawn to Callum's easy warmth and genuine kindness, the way his hands moved gently across his bass guitar, the crinkles around his eyes when he laughed at her stories. Grace watched their interactions with calculating eyes, seeing in their growing connection the key to her own escape plan. She arranged for Sophie to help with Jake's bath time, orchestrated quiet moments when she would disappear to paint, leaving Sophie and Callum alone with the baby who gurgled with delight in Sophie's arms. Each encounter was carefully designed to push them closer to the inevitable conclusion Grace had planned.

Chapter 5: Matchmaking from Beyond: Connie's Final Game

Aunt Connie's influence extended far beyond the grave, her carefully orchestrated plan unfolding with the precision of a master chess player. Two eligible men entered Sophie's life almost simultaneously, as if Connie had arranged their arrival from beyond the veil. Ian Curtis, Connie's sophisticated solicitor, possessed all the qualities of an ideal husband—intelligence, stability, gentle humor, and genuine interest in Sophie's wellbeing. Their dinner dates were pleasant affairs filled with easy conversation about art and literature, wine tastings in expensive restaurants, and the comfortable predictability of a relationship built on mutual respect rather than dangerous passion. Rick, the island's ruggedly handsome gardener, offered something entirely different. Their encounters crackled with physical attraction and the promise of passionate complications. His sun-weathered hands spoke of honest labor and simple pleasures, and his kisses left Sophie breathless and confused about what she actually wanted from love. He knew the island's secrets as intimately as he knew its soil, and his presence stirred something primal in Sophie that Ian's refined courtship could never touch. Yet neither man could compete with the forbidden attraction Sophie felt for Callum Tidyman. Their friendship deepened through shared concerts and quiet conversations, moments stolen while Grace retreated into her own private darkness. Sophie told herself nothing would happen, that she was simply enjoying the company of a married friend. But her heart raced when their hands accidentally touched, and she found herself checking her watch during their first meeting, unconsciously marking the moment she might one day tell their children about. Connie's ghost seemed to watch from the shadows, her final matchmaking scheme growing more complex than even she might have anticipated. The question remained: which man would claim Sophie's heart, and what price would be paid for love found in the shadow of another woman's despair? The answer would come sooner than anyone expected, on a night when all the island's secrets would finally collide.

Chapter 6: Unraveling Truths: The Anniversary Night Approaches

The island's annual Anniversary Night celebration approached like a storm gathering on the horizon, bringing with it the promise of revelations that could shatter carefully maintained illusions. For seventy years, the event had commemorated Alice and Jack Munro's disappearance with carnival atmosphere and tourist dollars, but this year felt different. Connie's death had left a void in the island's leadership, and without her iron control, old secrets began to surface like bodies rising from deep water. Veronika's obsession with solving the Munro mystery reached fever pitch as she prepared to confront her family with accusations of murder and cover-up. Her theories had evolved from wild speculation to detailed scenarios involving poison, dismembered bodies, and decades of calculated deception. She saw conspiracy in every family gathering, murder in every shared glance between the island's elderly residents. Her girlfriend Audrey watched with growing concern as Veronika's need for truth consumed her like a fever. Meanwhile, Grace's mental state deteriorated with each passing day. The weight of her secret plan pressed down on her like a physical force, even as she continued to orchestrate encounters between Sophie and Callum. She watched them laugh together over dinner, saw the way Callum's face lit up in Sophie's presence, and felt a mixture of satisfaction and devastating loss. Her carefully constructed life was crumbling, but she told herself it was for the greater good. Sophie remained blissfully unaware of the currents swirling around her. She threw herself into Anniversary Night preparations with characteristic enthusiasm, learning to make marble cake from Enigma's secret recipe, practicing her role as the Fairy Floss Fairy, and helping to decorate the island for its biggest event of the year. But even she could sense the tension building, the way conversations stopped when she entered rooms, the meaningful looks exchanged between Rose and Enigma. The night arrived with unseasonable warmth and an air of expectancy that felt more like dread than celebration. As tourists crowded the ferry and mulled wine began to flow, the island's residents prepared for revelations that would change everything they thought they knew about themselves and the mystery that had defined their lives.

Chapter 7: Crossroads: Choosing Between Fate and Free Will

The Anniversary Night celebration began to unravel before it had properly begun. Veronika arrived with Audrey, proudly announcing her newfound sexuality to anyone who would listen, while simultaneously preparing to destroy her family with accusations of murder. A mysterious man claiming to carry Alice Munro's ashes appeared, demanding money from the family he insisted had profited from his mother's story. In the midst of this chaos, Sophie and Callum found themselves dancing together, the attraction they had been fighting finally overwhelming their restraint. The kiss they shared was everything Sophie had imagined and more—until Grace's terrified screams cut through the night air. She was dying, her throat closing from an allergic reaction to food she had deliberately consumed, choosing death over the unbearable weight of a life she couldn't bear to live. As Grace fought for her life, saved only by her mother's quick thinking with an emergency injection, the true story of the Munro Baby Mystery finally emerged. Rose, speaking with the relief of someone finally unburdening herself of a lifetime of lies, revealed the heartbreaking truth that had been hidden for over seven decades. There had been no Alice and Jack Munro. The baby found in the cottage was Rose's own daughter, born when Rose was just fifteen after being sexually assaulted by her supervisor at work. Connie, Rose's protective older sister, had created the elaborate hoax to save Rose's reputation and give them a way to keep the baby while supporting their struggling family during the Great Depression. The bloodstains on the kitchen floor belonged to Connie, who had delivered the baby herself and cut her hand in the process. The mysterious disappearance was nothing more than an invention designed to attract tourists to their failing island home. What had begun as a desperate lie had grown into a thriving business empire, built on the foundation of a teenage girl's trauma and her sister's fierce love. The revelation shattered everything the family thought they knew about themselves. Enigma discovered that Rose was her mother, not her sister. The children learned that their entire family history was built on deception. Yet somehow, in the aftermath of truth-telling, they began to find their way back to each other, building new relationships on more honest foundations.

Summary

In the weeks that followed the Anniversary Night disaster, the island's residents slowly rebuilt their relationships on the foundation of truth rather than comfortable lies. Grace, finally receiving treatment for her postnatal depression, began to bond with her son and rediscover her capacity for joy. Her marriage to Callum, tested by near-tragedy and unspoken attractions, emerged stronger for having survived the storm. Sophie, her romantic fantasies about Callum finally laid to rest, found unexpected happiness with Ed Ripple, Callum's friend from the jazz band who turned out to be a childhood friend she had lost touch with decades earlier. The family decided to transform their business from exploitation of a false mystery into something genuinely helpful. The Alice and Jack house would become a retreat for struggling mothers and families in crisis. Rose, finally free to claim her role as mother and grandmother, began painting again with an enthusiasm that made her seem decades younger. As autumn settled over Scribbly Gum Island, Sophie understood that the real magic had never been in the carefully preserved cottage or the fabricated story of vanished lovers. It lived in the messy, complicated, beautiful reality of people choosing to love each other despite their flaws, to forgive each other's deceptions, and to build new truths on the ruins of old lies. She had found her family at last, not through blood or marriage, but through the simple act of opening her heart to the possibility that home might be a place she had never expected to find.

About Author

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Liane Moriarty

Moriarty reframes the intricacies of interpersonal relationships and hidden emotional complexities in her writing, skillfully interweaving them with sharp observations and engaging narratives. Her books often delve into the dynamics of marriage, friendship, and family, using witty dialogue and suspenseful storytelling to explore the secrets beneath everyday life. This approach has made her work especially appealing to readers seeking both entertainment and reflection on relatable contemporary issues. Notably, her novels like "Big Little Lies" and "The Husband’s Secret" have achieved #1 spots on the New York Times bestseller list, with "Big Little Lies" further achieving critical acclaim through its Emmy-winning HBO adaptation.\n\nIn addition to her adult fiction, Moriarty's early career began with a foundation in advertising and marketing, later transitioning to a full-time writing career. Her structured writing routine and carefully planned drafting process reflect her commitment to creating accessible narratives that resonate with a broad audience. Meanwhile, her academic background, including a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from Macquarie University, provided the groundwork for her debut novel, "Three Wishes." With over 20 million copies sold worldwide and translations in forty languages, Moriarty’s work not only entertains but also invites readers to examine their own relationships and emotions.\n\nHer impact extends beyond the literary world, as her stories have been adapted into television series, broadening her cultural influence. Moriarty’s ability to connect with readers through relatable themes and her successful adaptations into other media highlight her significant contributions to contemporary fiction. This short bio encapsulates her journey from childhood storyteller to a prominent figure in literature, known for her insightful and entertaining exploration of the human experience.

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