Apples Never Fall’s plot is full of secrets surrounding the Delaney family. Read on for a full breakdown of the novel, including its ending.
Apples Never Fall is a popular novel by Liane Moriarty, who is also known for writing Big Little Lies, among others.
The book was optioned for a limited series which will make its debut on Peacock in March, featuring an all-star cast that includes Annette Bening, Sam Neill, and Alison Brie.
What's Apples Never Fall Plot All About?
Liane Moriarty’s 2021 novel Apples Never Fall focuses on the Delaneys, a family that, on the surface, appears to have everything figured out.
The parents, Joy and Stan, are retired tennis instructors and have four adult children: Amy, Logan, Troy, and Brooke. Things are pretty great for the Delaney family until it all begins to come crashing down around them.
The trouble starts when Joy disappears, and to further complicate matters, Stan is the primary suspect in the case. The four siblings promptly take it upon themselves to try and make sense of what happened and find their mother.
But before all that happened, a physically injured young woman named Savannah randomly shows up on Stan and Joy’s doorstep and pleads with the family to help her. They welcome this stranger into their home, but the girl begins to seem a little sketchy.
Upon investigating Savannah’s background, the kids discover that all is not right with her. She was previously associated with a scam and what’s more, her initial story, that her boyfriend beat her, had some holes in it.
To make matters all the worse, it’s revealed that Savannah is actually the sister of Harry Haddad, Stan’s former top tennis student. Harry left the tennis school some time prior and Savannah brings forth the revelation that it was Joy who counseled Harry to call it quits.
Stan and Joy have a huge fight, and that’s when Joy vanishes.
Spoilers Explained for Apples Never Fall's Ending
The readers’ response to the conclusion of Apples Never Fall was decidedly mixed, with many feeling that the book ended in an anticlimactic fashion.
At the end of the book, Joy reappears, alive and well. As it turned out, she was with Savannah on a little off-the-grid getaway. She had left a note explaining that she’d be away but it was unfortunately misplaced after she left.
Stan is cleared of all charges and he and Joy begin to deal with the issues that have been plaguing their marriage.
Now, it remains to be seen how closely the upcoming Apples Never Fall Peacock miniseries, but perhaps the story could be altered a bit due to the somewhat divisive reaction to how the novel ended.
That question will need to wait until Thursday, March 14 to be answered, when all seven episodes of Apples Never Fall arrive on Peacock.
