Strange Sally Diamond

Product Information

Although I wasn’t satisfied with the conclusion, this book is probably my favourite thriller of this year.

Strange Sally Diamond: A BBC Between the Covers Book Club

I devoured Strange Sally Diamond and it is still going around in my head days after I finished it. The sense of place is brilliantly achieved. And Sally is such a memorable lead character and the other characters so dark in comparison to her innocence. I loved it!” I found Strange Sally Diamond to be an addictive read, a dark thriller with believable twists and strong, complex characters. The writing is sharp and the story clever, and there’s a great pace to it. It's about resilience and discovering your identity and finding your place in the world, but also a reminder that maybe not everyone can be saved. Also a word of warning that if you are sensitive to themes of abuse, this one isn’t for you.

Featured Reviews

But who is the man observing Sally from the other side of the world? And why does her neighbour seem to be obsessed with her? Sally's trust issues are about to be severely challenged . . . Reclusive Sally Diamond is thrust into the media spotlight when she tries to incinerate her dead father, causing widespread outrage. Now she’s the center of attention, not only from hungry reporters and police detectives, but also a sinister voice from a past she does not remember. As she begins to discover the repressed memories of her horrific early childhood, Sally steps into the world for the first time, making new friends, big decisions, and learning that people don’t always mean what they say. They were done so well. There are good characters and evil characters. I loved Sally the best and loved watching her grow up and meeting friends and following her conversations with them. What a brave, funny, disquieting, riveting book. By the end, I felt I knew Sally Diamond's mind better than I did my own Louise Candlish Sally Diamond’s father tells her to put him out with the rubbish when he dies - so she does as she’s told. Sally is seen as strange and different and doesn’t think the way that others might do. Why? Well, that would be telling. Then the stuff hits the proverbial fan and Sally finds herself in the headlines - again. To say that chaos ensues is a distinct understatement.

Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent | Crime Fiction Lover Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent | Crime Fiction Lover

That being said, I don’t regret reading it, I mean… I enjoyed 90% of it? and it’s one I’d still recommend as I seem to be in the minority of readers who felt this way! That is sad.’ Privately, I thought forty years was plenty of time.” -p.152 of Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent Chapters narrated by Peter, fill us in on what Sally and her mother endured (heartbreaking) but I was most captivated by Sally in the present day, as you cannot help but root for her to succeed. (heartwarming).

Table of Contents

The graphic descriptions of child abuse are VERY graphic & violent. When a pregnant woman who has spent the majority of her life in one room suffers horrible physical and emotional abuse from an adult man, and is then abused by her son, who is a CHILD....I'm out and only wish I could scrub the scenes from my brain. I really enjoyed Sally's perspective, cared for her, wanted to discover her past and found humour in her inner commentary: The ending disappointed me and left me dissatisfied in so many ways and it’s so frustrating that, despite the general reading experience being a good one, I came away from it feeling let down. Utterly compelling. Brilliant writing and memorable characters. Genuinely unputdownable Dervla McTiernan

Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent | Goodreads

The past can never be fully forgotten in this exhilarating new novel from the author of Our Little Cruelties A wonderfully twisted blend of light and dark; a book I couldn't put down, a character I won't forget. Clever, creepy, compelling, but poignant too, Strange Sally Diamond is going to be huge, and deservedly so Andrea Mara The blurb doesn't tell you much more, so I won't spoil the plot, but Sally is pulled into a deep and dark journey of discovery into her past and the family secrets that have been kept hidden.Forty something Sally Diamond put her deceased father out with the rubbish. Nothing wrong with that is there? Well that’s what Sally believes anyway, because her father had always said it - “Just put me out with the bin” The fact that he said it with a laugh didn’t make any difference to Sally, because Sally isn’t like other people, she’s a bit strange. Socially deficient is how her father has always described her. Partway through, you discover that Denise had an earlier child by Conor Geary, a son, whom he took with him when he fled to New Zealand. The descriptions of her brother’s circumscribed life in Rotorua much resemble Sally’s. Even though they both live in attractive and interesting parts of the world, it’s like they’ve gone through life with blinders on, only seeing what Dad and Geary wanted them to see, keeping themselves apart from all else. Her writing is attracted to the sinister, the seedy, the cynical. The characters are typically obsessed with self-preservation and self-advancement at any cost, completely oblivious to the collateral damage that will almost inevitably ensue. Nugent does a fine job with her complicated main character and with her intense storyline that will take us from Ireland to New Zealand. It is rare to come across a central character as multi-layered and complex as Sally Diamond. And in its telling, Strange Sally Diamond evokes compassion and deep understanding as these episodes play out. But Nugent doesn't shy away from the causal factors as well. This novel shines a light upon unspeakable incidents that hit the headlines more and more often. How do we try to understand the perpetrator while protecting the rights of victims? Believe me, Liz Nugent will give us plenty here to discuss, to mull over, and to make inroads into identification and prevention. Hope is the greenest of seeds.