Thriller Author Liane Moriarty Saw a Fortune Teller For “Here One Moment” — Even Though She's Not a Believer

The bestselling ‘Big Little Lies’ author chatted with Elin Hilderbrand about her new novel 'Here One Moment'

Liane Moriarty’s research for her latest novel took her to some unexpected places.

While appearing on the Books, Beach, & Beyond podcast with Elin Hilderbrand on Sept. 17, the Big Little Lies author, 57, revealed that while gathering background for the book, Here One Moment, she visited a fortune teller — despite being a skeptic.

The topic arose because the upcoming thriller follows the lives of a group of travelers after an older woman on their flight tells them the age and cause of their deaths. In other words, she tells their fortune.

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!

When it comes to fortune tellers, Moriarty says, she “would love to believe” — but so far, her experiences with them have not “amazed” her.

“So I've only got two experiences,” she explained on the podcast. “One was many years ago at a charity event and they had all these different tarot card readers and I sat down in front of him and he was talking away and I said at one point, ‘Will I have children one day?’”

Related: Liane Moriarty, Author of Apples Never Fall and Big Little Lies, Wrote a New Novel — Read an Excerpt! (Exclusive)

“And I was in my 30s and I was desperate to have children,” she continued. “And he looked up at me and his eyes met mine and it seemed like a real human moment where it was like he was letting go of all this silly game that we were playing and he said, ‘Oh, of course you have children, darling.’”

In that moment, the bestselling author said, “it didn't feel like he was telling my fortune, he was telling it just as a person.” Though, she noted, he was technically correct — she did later welcome two children.

Her second experience came when Moriarty took another stab while researching for Here One Moment because she “thought I better go see a fortune teller” during the research stage.

“You could tell as soon as she saw me, she thought, ‘Oh, I've got you. You are a middle aged woman. Your children have grown up. You're now thinking, what now? What about me?’ And so she started saying that sort of thing, waiting for me to agree with her,” the author recalled.

But because Moriarty had her children “quite late” and they still live with her at home, she recalled thinking, “No, it's pretty much about me.”

Related: PEOPLE's Best Books of September 2024: Sally Rooney’s Poignant Family Saga and More

“She did then say, ‘Well, what do you do?’ She was obviously trying to get information and I said, ‘I'm a writer. I write books.’ And she said, ‘Well, I think you should do pretty well with that,’” the author said, prompting a chuckle from the podcast hosts.

Slightly more believable, Moriarty recalled, was something the fortune teller said about one of her kids — at least, until she shut it down.

“She said, ‘Oh, your daughter, she's one who likes the good things in life,’” she recalled. “And I went home and told my daughter that and she said, ‘Oh, mum, who doesn't like the good things in life?’ ‘Cause I thought, ‘Oh, well, that's quite accurate.’ But, so, no, I did not believe a word.”

But, the author added, “I love stories of people who've had, you know, amazing predictions.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty is on sale now, wherever books are sold.

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.