It's not that uncommon for members of one family to follow the same career path.

There are many examples of three more more siblings who have made it in the entertainment world, with the Hemsworth and Redgrave/Richardson families among them.

But there is also an Australian family that has produced not one, but three bestselling authors.

The Moriarty sisters – Liane, Nicola and Jaclyn – have sold more than 20 million books worldwide between them and maintain a close bond, often turning to one another for advice and even giving each other ideas for their bestselling books.

The eldest of the three is Liane Moriarty. She is one of Australia's bestselling authors, having sold more than 20 million books worldwide. Many have been turned into TV shows and movies.

Despite loving to write as a child, she took a different career path on leaving school, working in advertising and as a freelance copywriter into her 30s before 'sibling rivalry' saw her write her first novel.

Moriarty, 58, told 9honey she was prompted to act when Jaclyn, who was two years younger, got a publishing deal to write a young adult (YA) novel.

"I felt very happy for her because I love her dearly, but I also felt sort of cross with myself because I hadn't even tried," she said.

She tried her hand at writing – first a children's book that was rejected by publishers.

She then enrolled in Masters degree at Sydney's Macquarie University. As part of the course, she wrote her first novel, Three Wishes, which was published in 2003. 

Meanwhile, Jaclyn, 56, wrote her first novel when she was seven, according to a bio on her website, where she described it as an "Enid Blyton rip-off about talking toys".

"If one of us is feeling down, we might go looking for good reviews to send to each other."

Like her old sister, she put her desire to be an author on the backburner to enrol in a Bachelor or English/Bachelor at Sydney University, with the aim of becoming a journalist.

Instead, she continued her law studies, completing Masters at Yale University in the US and PhD at Cambridge University in the UK.

It was while at Cambridge she wrote a young adults (YA) novel, Feeling Sorry for Celia.

Back in Sydney, she was working as a media, entertainment and copyright lawyer when she sent her manuscript to a literary agency. Within weeks, she had a publishing deal.

She continued to work part-time while writing her second book, before becoming a full-time author, and has since published 15 books, which have sold almost 200,000 copies in Australia alone.

Like her sisters, Nicola began writing as a child.

Her first novel, Free-Falling, was published in 2012. It was followed a year later by Paper Chains.

She wrote a novella called Captivation, which was part of a romance series, and travel-themed short stories that became Amazon bestsellers.

In 2017, she released her third novel, The Fifth Letter, which became a bestseller in Australia and and the US, and was optioned for the screen.

Her fourth novel, Those Other Women, was an Amazon bestseller.

It was followed by The Ex and You Need to Know, both of which became bestsellers in Australia.

Her most recent book, Every Last Suspect, is one of three to become Aussie bestsellers and she and has sold more than 250,000 nooks.

With all three sisters in the same industry, it makes sense that they are always looking for inspiration, which can lead to competition.

"One thing we do get competitive about is family anecdotes," Liane said.

"If anyone says something, then you want to get in first and say, 'I want this one'.

"It is not so much ideas. It is more if someone starts telling a good story from their own life.

"I have absolutely said it to my mother when she starts telling a story, 'Before you go any further, I want it on the record I want this one'.

"So it is material that we all fight for, because once somebody uses it, obviously it's off the table."

Liane recalled one such example.

"One of us used the story of how our grandfather proposed to our grandmother," she said.

"He was reading the newspaper and pointed at an ad for an engagement ring and said, 'Would you like one of those?'

"I actually can't remember if it was me, [but] one of us used it."

The sisters value each other's opinions and are among the first to read each other's completed manuscripts.

"Sometimes [it is to get] a little bit of constructive criticism, but more just to give encouragement," Liane said.

"Often we might send it to each other just at the same time as we send it to our editors, mainly because you are so desperate for feedback and that is why we send it to each to say, 'Please say this is good in the next five minutes'."

Liane said it was helpful that her siblings understood "what it's like being an author".

"Just, you know, deadlines, the editing process or dealing with review and things like that, so I think we all appreciate that," she said.

"If we see something really nice about one of our books, then we will send it to each other.

"And if one of us is feeling down, we might go looking for good reviews to send to each other."

Liane even has her sister to thank for inspiring one of her bestselling novels, which has since been made into yet another successful TV show.

"I thought I was going to take a break from writing and just do some short stories," she said.

"I asked [Jaclyn] to give me a writing prompt for a short story and she sent me a little description of a bike lying on the grass with some apples around it. That became ... the opening scene of Apples Never Fall, so I was grateful to her for that."

"She said it was such as strange moment seeing that exact scene that she had described in a text, then it was on the television screen with Annette Bening riding the bike."

The three siblings will appear together for a panel discussion during the 2025 Sydney Writer's Festival (May 19-27).

"The Moriarty Sisters – One family, three successful writers" is at Carriageworks on May 23.

Liane will also join One Day author David Nicholls at Sydney Town Hall on Wednesday, May 21, to discuss their experiences of creating Australian-based stories that went on to become acclaimed films and TV series.

More information about the festival program and tickets can be found here.

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