This psychological thriller follows a socially inept woman, Sally Diamond, as she discovers her past and the trauma in her life that resulted in her being unable to interact naturally with other people. A complex plot which stretches over decades and continents, Liz Nugent has written a book which is one of the best examinations of victimhood I’ve come across and writes some extremely complex and disturbing characters.

There are some tough subjects in this book including physical and emotional abuse so discretion is definitely advised if you are sensitive to these issues.

While extremely dark, there are some moments of light humour, If you enjoyed Liz Nugent’s previous books you’ll definitely enjoy this one.

Sally Diamond has lived a quiet, peaceful life in a remote house with her psychiatrist father. It all changes when he dies, and she lights a bonfire. Sally is thrust into public attention. Gradually her extraordinary background is revealed. Sally grows in confidence as she discovers her origins, but unwelcome attention from someone unknown on the other side of the world, and an obsessive neighbour threaten her security.

Sally is a heroine to fall in love with, and this novel is a real tour de force. Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin UK for the advance reader copy.

I thoroughly enjoyed this fascinating addictive story and give thanks to those who recommended it to me.
Sally Diamond is a complex 40 plus year old women with childlike simplistic ways. When she discovers what a brutal life her mother endured after being kidnapped as an 11 year old and then giving birth to Sally aged 12 years old, it is not surprising that she endures years of therapy. As further details emerge, Sally is desperate to seek the truth even though it is harrowing.
Fortunately, Sally has a good network of friends who accept her strange ways and her confidence grows helping her to become an acceptable member of society. Although a lot of this story is alarming it also has its funny and quirky parts. I am sure it will become a favourite for many readers.

Unravelling Oliver is one of my favourite books and I have also enjoyed many other cracking reads by this author so I was beyond delighted to get my grubby mitts on this book.
Was I too excited? Would it live up to my hype? Did I want it too much?
Ok so no shock as I have 5 starred it already - I blooming loved it!
Sally Diamond lived with her father. She is a little unique and he pretty much sheltered her her whole life so, when he told her that "when he died she should just take him out with the rubbish", she did just that. Obviously, as you can imagine, this caused a bit of a kerfuffle, the fallout a bit spectacular and it all threw Sally into the limelight for a bit. It also opened up a world of pain as it brought her past into her present. For both her and someone who wants to reconnect...
Sally has to be my character of the year 2022. I loved her. She is simple and wounded but also just wonderfully funny, although she doesn't mean to be. She has a horrible past that only comes out on her father's death via letters and other paperwork. Her whole world is blown apart. But she does have support...
It's dark and uplifting, sad and happy, and occasionally side splitting funny. She's socially inept but at the same time rather endearing. And by the end of the book, as I approached the final pages, I realised that I would have to say goodbye to her, and that made me sad. Very sad. We'd connected. I'd grown to care about her. And I wasn't ready.
The other side of the coin, which I am not going into here, set in New Zealand, is just as tragic a tale and features another wounded character. Spoilers prevent me from saying as much as I'd like but boy does this author get a reader in all the feels.
All in all, definitely in my top 5 reads of 2022, and looks like being one of 2023's hottest books. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I’ll admit on first starting this one I did question if this one was my kind of read. But OMG what a read!!! Devoured it in 2 sittings. I couldn’t put it down and when I wasn’t reading I was thinking about reading it. Liz Nugent knows how to weave an incredible story that is so engaging and gripping it’s like a rollercoaster. It’s a dark, sad and occasionally funny read and told in the past and present from 2 different characters point of view. I was so invested in both and found each character’s perspective as intriguing as the other. Initially I wasn’t sure if I liked Sally but once I got to know her - I loved her. This book is a must read and I can see it being on of the most popular books of 2023…

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin General UK for the opportunity to read #StrangeSallyDiamond

Sally is very “different”. A bit of a loner, reclusive and not at all a people person, she is viewed as decidedly odd by her fellow villagers. Never is this more apparent than when dealing with what she believes are her adoptive father’s last wishes when he dies!

What a brilliantly told story. I was captivated right from the start and loved it. Although Sally is the main event, all the other characters are wonderfully written.

At times a dark and disturbing tale, with some very sinister themes, but also full of light and love, sadness and joy shared throughout. All well written and handled superbly.

Every now and then a book comes along that is so worthy of much more than 5* and this is one of those true gems. A beautiful, heartbreaking story, a guaranteed best seller.

Thank you NetGalley.

I loved this book, I could not put this down and read it in two days! Liz Nugent has a unique writing style and could see this book being made into a film. The main character Sally Diamond is so well portrayed and the story was just gripping. I would highly receommend this book and definately one the best books I have read in a while. Thanks to netgalley for sending me this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

Liz Nugent does it again!

Strange Sally Diamond..... I couldn’t put it down! A dark, spine chilling, suspenseful and shocking psychological thriller of a book.

Liz Nugent is one of my favourite Irish authors and I was eagerly awaiting her new book and absolutely delighted to be given early access to it... I couldn't wait to get stuck in!

Sally Diamond cannot understand why what she did was so strange. She was only doing what her father told her to do, to put him out with the rubbish when he died.

Now Sally is the centre of attention, not only from the hungry media and worried police, but also a sinister voice from a past she has no memory of. As she begins to discover the horrors of her childhood, recluse Sally steps into the world for the first time, making new friends, finding independence, and learning that people don't always mean what they say.

But when messages start arriving from a stranger who knows far more about her past than she knows herself, Sally's life will be thrown into chaos once again . . .

A thrilling, exciting, riveting page turner of a book and with a great protagonist in Sally this novel kept me intrigued and fascinated right to the end. A book that will stay with me for a long time - and perhaps Liz' best book to date!

Wow! I loved this book! I am new to this author but will definitely be looking out for more of her work now.

Sally is a wonderful character. There are links to Eleanor oliphant in terms of personality etc. Sally Diamond was adopted and has no memories before the age of 7.

The book follows Sally’s adulthood, as she deals with her father’s death (not very well!) which brings with it an unraveling of her past. Sally learns more about her adoptive parents, her birth parents and finds some other relations along the way.

The book covers some horrific themes but somehow manages to also be uplifting. Sally learns about herself, makes friends and starts to find her way in life. There are many twists and turns, but Sally is somehow very relatable despite her horrific and traumatic past.

A gripping must read book.

I really enjoyed this book. 40 something year old Sally Diamond is socially inept. She keeps to herself and doesn't like interacting with other people. Then her Dad dies and leaves her a series of letters explaining her early childhood. Sally knew she was adopted but had no memories before the age of 7. The story is then told in 2 time frames. In the now, Sally starts to learn how to relate to other people. The other part of the story is told from the perspective of Peter, a boy growing up in the most bizarre and horrendous circumstances. Gradually their stories intertwine. This is a sad but uplifting book, though I have to say I didn't like the ending - it seemed that all Sally's progress had been in vain! Thanks to NetGalley for a preview copy.
Copied to Goodreads.

I could not put this book down!

Young Peter is home schooled by his father. He hears noises through his bedroom wall, his father tells him not to worry, it’s just the ghost.
Sally Diamond thinks she is strange, she has been told she has social inexperience, she’s awkward around people.

Sally Diamond is the main character in the book. The story is told with her on a journey of finding out about her past. This is thrust upon her after she makes a serious faux pas, and she finds herself the talk of the Town.
I literally couldn’t put this book down, considering it covers some very dark, sensitive issues.
There are many hidden secrets.
It explores what some people could do to satisfy what others would see as most terrible choices in life. Even how they could brainwash another person.
This is the first book I have read by the author Liz Nugent, and I would like to read more.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Publisher for an advanced e-book copy. Opinions of the book are entirely my own.

I have just finished this amazing book and am desperately trying to put into words how absolutely awesome it is it has completely taken my breath away I lived and breathed every page I ignored things I should be doing and just read until I finished it I couldn’t put it down.
The book has everything you would want in a perfect read it’s heartbreakingly sad, very disturbing and at times funny, it brought out so many emotions in me whilst I was reading and I am in total awe at the quality of the words and storyline from Liz Nugent.
I’m not going to try and describe the story its just to difficult for me to do it justice what I can say is this is a book that I will always treasure, I loved Sally the main character I wanted to be her friend, I wanted to help and protect her she felt so real to me and I so so didn’t want this read to end.
So please, please don’t miss this book it deserves more than 5 stars it’s going to be a huge hit and also it’s SUPERB !! Massive thanks to Liz Nugent for a read I will never forget.
My thanks also to NetGalley and Penguin General UK for giving me the opportunity to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Perfectly dark and funny book.

The characters are deep and thoughtfully written, Liz Nugent has managed to write another gripping psychological thriller that I imagine will be well loved.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Books for the opportunity to read and review this book. This author is a genius when it comes to creating complicated and intriguing characters, some of whom are not always likeable! With great characters, writing and sympathy Sally Diamond’s dark and tragic story unfolds in the book and it’s literally unputdownable!! Loved it and highly recommend pre-ordering it for March!

Once again Liz Nugent offers us a dark tale of the human condition, with a divisive, oddly likeable main character, a twisted darkly observant storyline and an ending that will keep nagging at you in those early sleepless hours.

Honestly the quality of this writing is second to none. The plotting is always superbly realistic, eminently readable and hugely thought provoking.

Bravo.

What a good read this is! I found this book refreshingly different to others that are out there at the moment. Sally is a woman is her fourties’ she lives with her adoptive father and has always been a little strange. The story starts with her dad dying and she literally “puts him out with the rubbish” This turn of events brings closer inspection to Sally and she begins to learn the truth about what happened to her as a child that made her the way she is. Although this is quite a dark story and touches on some pretty sinister subjects I also found it heart warming and sometimes even humorous, this is definitely one I will remember and recommend.

Liz Nugent is an automatic buy author for me. So I was delighted when I was approved for this eARC!

Sally Diamond is dark, sad, moving and occasionally funny... it has all the hallmarks of a bestseller. I will be very surprised if this is not one of the most popular books of the year!

Sally Diamond cannot understand why what she did was so strange. She was only doing what her father told her to do, to put him out with the rubbish when he died. Now at the centre of media attention, she begins to discover the horrors of her childhood and learn about a past she can't remember.

Spanning dual timelines and told from two perspectives, this one had me hooked from the beginning. It's a dark and heavy read but completely gripping. I stayed up far too late each night, desperate to find out how things were going to pan out. As is often the case with Nugent, her characters are unique and complex - I was never sure how I was meant to feel about each of them as the story was unfolding. Ultimately, Sally stole a piece of my heart. A wonderfully written protagonist who will stay with me.

‘Strange Sally Diamond’ is how she in known in the small Irish community she lives in. She is socially awkward and has trouble recognising sarcasm, so when her father dies, she assumes she is doing nothing wrong by following his wishes and ‘putting him out with the bins’ as he told her to. However, once her actions are discovered, her quiet, monotonous life is turned on it’s head.

I have enjoyed all of Liz Nugent’s previous books, but none as much as this one. Imagine a book that is half ‘Room’ by Emma Donoghue and half ‘Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine’ by Gail Honeyman. It’s hard to imagine, but I’m going to quote Marian Keyes here “It transcends genre...it defies categorisation”.

You will sympathise, empathise, gasp, laugh and possibly even cry.

I don’t have any doubt that this will be one of the biggest books of 2023.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Wow what a way to start the year. Ive loved Liz Nugents previous books so grabbed this one without even reading the blurb.

Sally Diamond is somewhat strange. Adopted when she was 7 with no memory before that, she has led a totally sheltered life in the midlands in Ireland. In her 40s, she lives with her father(her mother is deceased)and rarely leaves the house. She is socially awkward and has no filter at all when she talks and she takes everything she is told at face value.

When her father dies in his bed she does what she thinks is fulfilling his last wishes when he said "sure when I die you can throw me out with the rubbish", so thats exactly what she does. She brings him out to where they put the rubbish in their incinerator and tries to burn him. This of course leads to the police being involved and soon it becomes national news.

This series of events leads to stories surfacing about Sallys past and when she starts receiving stuff in the post from the other side of the world she knows it is related to her early years but can she remember what happened to her and why her early memory is gone?

This was an utterly captivating read. Told from different perspectives, this is a heartbreaking tale of abuse and the minefield of damage it leaves in its wake.

Sally is a real curiosity but you will be rooting for her all the way. Although the subject matter is grim, very grim in fact, there are also many laugh out loud moments. The cast of characters are beautifully realized. from "villain" to "hero" and everything in between, you will be engrossed in their world from the first chapter.

There is something about Nugents writing that just sits right with me and makes it imminently readable. The story feels both other worldly and as real as it gets at the same time. A strange combination of both that make this book a gem.

An easy 5 stars from me. Get your hands on this as soon as you can and enter the world of Strange Sally Diamond.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC through Netgalley.