April 1, 2023
Nugent (Little Cruelties) weaves a master tale of depravity, trauma, and mental health. Sally Diamond's father, Thomas, has often joked that when he dies, Sally should just put him in the rubbish bin. When Thomas does die, Sally follows his wishes: puts him in the trash incinerator and attempts to burn his body. The police and media attention around her actions upend Sally's quiet solitary life. Subsequent letters Thomas left her to open after his death unveil a traumatic secret about Sally and her life before her parents adopted her at seven. This past trauma and Sally's untreated PTSD explain a lot about her "social deficiencies"--how Thomas referred to Sally's behavior--and why Sally, at 42, is so isolated. Angela, a friend of her adopted mother, helps Sally cope with all these changes and helps guide her to a path of healing, which Sally finds hard to stay on. Intercut with Sally's story is that of Peter, a young boy living in unusual circumstances. VERDICT How Peter and Sally interconnect is one of the disturbing twists in this deeply unsettling psychological novel. While it's not a thriller, those who like thrillers and true-crime readers would enjoy this book.--Lynnanne Pearson
Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
May 1, 2023
When Sally's father tells her to put him out with the trash when he dies, she takes him literally. Now she's the center of attention and can't understand why. Sally has always been strange and reclusive, but now she is forced to live on her own, become part of society, and learn to make friends. While going through her father's belongings, she discovers more questions than answers about her own past. After she receives messages from a stranger claiming to know everything about her, Sally's life is thrown into a downward spiral. The plot is slow-moving but involving, and Sally is endearing and likable. The concept that "it takes a village to raise a child" is a driving force behind Sally's growth and provides a welcome bright spot in the darkness. Nugent writes relatable, imperfect characters, and her portrayal of Sally's neurodivergence allows a look into the struggles of daily life that most take for granted. This well-written, engaging novel isn't for the light of heart, but it will find a home with readers who thrive on intricate plotlines and character development.
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Starred review from May 15, 2023
Nugent (Lying in Wait) outdoes herself in this chilling exploration of her title character’s pitch-black past. Ruthlessly bullied as a child in Ireland, Sally has lived a quiet life with her parents, rarely venturing outside. When her widower father dies just before her 44th birthday, Sally incinerates his body with the garbage, thinking she’s honoring his wishes to “put him out with the trash.” Instead, the act draws outrage from neighbors, authorities, and the media, suddenly thrusting the reclusive Sally into an unwelcome spotlight. She’s always known that she was adopted, but slowly—with the aid of letters her “father” left behind, plus a series of messages from a mysterious stranger who may hail from Sally’s blurry past—she comes to know the precise horrors of her backstory. Can she overcome them and learn to navigate a world she barely understands? Nugent fashions an unforgettable protagonist in Sally, and never loses sight of her characters’ fundamental humanity, even as she piles on twists and steers the narrative into exceptional darkness. Inventive, addictive, and bold, this deserves a wide audience. Agent: Marianne Gunn O’Connor, Marianne Gunn O’Connor Literary.
June 15, 2023
Sally Diamond is beginning to connect with the world after having lived an isolated life with her late father. Will she be able to escape the shadows of her traumatic past and their echoes in the present? Sally's father, a psychiatrist, diagnosed her as "socially deficient," so although she's 42, she's always lived with him outside the small Irish village of Carricksheedy. He'd always said that she should "put [him] out with the trash" when he dies, so when it happens, she tries to burn his body in their incinerator. In the flurry of public attention that follows, ranging from concern about Sally's ability to function on her own to outraged theories that she must have murdered her father and was trying to dispose of the evidence, a secret about Sally's past is revealed. While she'd always known she was adopted, she didn't realize that she was the child of Denise Norton, who was kidnapped at age 11 and brutalized for 14 years. By the time Denise and Sally were rescued from their captor, Denise was so traumatized that she took her own life. So in addition to coming to grips with her adoptive parents' roles--her father was the doctor treating her and Denise all those years ago, and her mother was the nurse--she also begins to process the truth about her biological parents. With the support of her therapist and her friends, Sally begins to step outside her constricted life, all the while keeping her eyes open for any sense of threat after she receives a mysterious gift in the mail. Nugent also begins to weave in flashback chapters from the perspective of a young boy being raised by a father who has a woman locked up in a single room. Between these chapters and Sally's exploration of her past, this tragic, disturbing story of generational trauma eventually unspools. Despite the grim subject matter, Sally is an appealing character--strange, yes, but also engagingly literal. Nugent hits exactly the right tone of empathy and optimism, but she can't fully banish the darkness.
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