Avoiding spoilers for a TV show becomes a whole different process when a book already exists, and if you managed to make it to last night's Big Little Lies finale without spoiling yourself on Wikipedia, congrats. Though scriptwriter David E. Kelley stayed pretty faithful to the overall beats of Liane Moriarty's 2014 novel, there were some major tweaks and additions made. Here are 11 key differences between the book and the show.

1. The book takes place in Australia rather than California.

This actually doesn't change much about the story–as it turns out, cliquey beachside towns with excellent public schools and fraught playground politics are pretty much the same on both sides of the equator.

2. Madeline does not have an affair.

Madeline's affair with Joseph, the director of her community theater production of Avenue Q, is the single biggest change in the series. Reese Witherspoon, who was also an executive producer on the show, has explained that the change was made because Madeline was too flawless as written. "I didn't have anything to play but perfection, and I just think those people who are perfect [are] all full of shit," she told Variety. "The change mainly came out of me not having anything to really put my teeth into."

The whole Avenue Q production also does not exist in the book, which to me is a way sadder loss than whiny (though hot) Joseph.

3. Jane and Celeste have a stronger connection.

On both page and screen, Madeline takes Jane under her wing and bonds with her in a big-sisterly way, but in the book Celeste and Jane also develop a bond. They start going for fitness walks together–replaced in the series by those idyllic beach runs – and though Jane is in awe of Celeste she also opens up to her.

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4. The dynamic of Jane's rape is different.

On screen, Shailene Woodley's Jane struggles with trauma from the rape that led to the birth of her son Ziggy, but the book focuses more on the impact the assault had on her self-esteem. Prior to the rape, "Saxon Banks" verbally denigrates Jane in the book, calling her fat and ugly and leaving her so horror-struck that she doesn't resist. We learn that Jane was "voluptuous" prior to being assaulted, but subsequently developed an eating disorder and is now extremely thin, her food issues recurring throughout the book.

In the show, we don't hear any words exchanged during Jane's flashback to her assault–which makes sense, since it'd be much harder to conceal Perry's identity if he had dialogue. Instead, the focus is on the violence of the act, and on Jane's fear that her attacker might kill her.

5. Nathan and Ed's tension is barely there.

The lame macho standoffs between Madeline's ex and current husband were some of the least compelling scenes in Big Little Lies, and were presumably thrown in there mostly as a red herring to create more plausible candidates for the central murder.

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6. "Saxon Banks" is Perry's cousin.

When Celeste hears the slightly different name of Jane's rapist in the book, she identifies him as Perry's cousin, and spends a long time agonizing over whether to tell Perry. It turns out, of course, that Perry is using his cousin's name as an alias, which he's done to get out of trouble since he was a kid. This was a smart cut–on screen, it would have made it way too obvious that the real culprit was Perry, and it's sort of a weird plot point to begin with (why would you use a distinctive name like Saxon Banks as your cover?)

7. Bonnie has a clearer reason for pushing Perry to his death.

While you could definitely argue that she didn't need a better reason than seeing him beat his wife, the book fleshes out Bonnie's backstory in a compelling way. In the closing pages of the book, Nathan explains that Bonnie had an abusive father and still suffers PTSD from her experiences with him, so seeing Perry lash out flipped a switch in her.

8. Renata is a much less developed character.

Until the climax, Renata is a fairly one-dimensional villain on the page, and though she's just as vicious towards Jane and Ziggy in the show, she's also humanized by having her own arc and her own home life. It's hard to imagine Laura Dern signing up for a role as limited as Book Renata, so this is decidedly a change for the better.

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9. Abigail's virginity auction goes further.

In the book, the virginity auction website goes live, and Madeline and Nathan try in vain to get Abigail to take it down. She relents only when a mysterious man writes to Abigail promising to make a $100,000 donation to Amnesty International if she takes the site down, thus fulfilling her do-gooder goal. Though it's never confirmed, Madeline suspects that the mystery donor is actually Celeste, who we already know spends large amounts of Perry's money on charitable donations. On screen, Abigail takes the website down herself after a conversation with Madeline.

10. Tom has a larger role.

Jane's romance with sweet-natured cafe owner Tom felt slightly crammed into the show's finale, whereas in the book it's a slow-burn. In both versions, Jane is surprised to find out he's not gay, but in the book that discovery comes after they've already developed a connection. But Tom's hero moment, in which he kicks Renata's uppity husband out of the cafe for harassing Jane, does make it into the show.

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11. Madeline has a son.

In the show, Madeline has one daughter from her previous marriage, Abigail, and one with Ed, Chloe. In the book she also has a son called Fred, though he plays such a minor role that this isn't much of a change.

Emma Dibdin Contributor Emma Dibdin writes about television, movies, and podcasts, with coverage including opinion essays, news posts, episodic reviews and in-depth interviews with creatives.

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