The tone of this gracefully crafted adaptation of Liane Moriarty’s bestselling novel is tender and mysterious, imbued with a soft literary quality. It’s mostly based on the fictitious Scribbly Gum island, a picturesque location situated close to Sydney, where property presumably costs more than the gross GDP of several countries and almost all its tiny population belong to the same family. Like every family they conceal secrets, but given this is a mystery-thriller – executive produced by Nicole Kidman, no less – those secrets are particularly big and juicy.
Across the show’s six-part arc, various skeletons are pried from the closet by a protagonist whose task is to interrupt the status quo and act as an agent of change. This is Sophie (Teresa Palmer), a likable journalist in her late 30s who inherits a property not from the bank of mum and dad, but from a rather less common depository: the bank of an ex-boyfriend’s relative who barely knew her. The reason the now-deceased Connie (Angela Punch McGregor) bequeathed it to her is one of several key mysteries, slowly and tastefully revealed.
