Strange Sally Diamond

June 10, 2024

Sally Diamond is a recluse and, well, strange. She makes national headlines when she incinerates her late father's body with the weekly trash. After all, he always said just to put him out with the bins when he dies. Her actions draw the attention of not only the police and the country but dangerous voices from a childhood she does not remember. She's getting phone calls from a man living across the world calling her Mary, a name she does not know, and a new neighbor is watching her every move. As she's learning to trust the world, Sally also learns that not everyone is who they seem. Nugent's (Little Cruelties) latest is a disturbing, bleak novel about how the actions of one man can ripple across generations. Jessica Regan, Stephen Hogan, and Sara Lynam provide a stunning narration of all the characters, simultaneously enhancing Sally's naivete and the other characters' sinister intentions. VERDICT Listeners may be horrified to hear how the actions of one person set Sally's story in motion, but they will likely enjoy seeing her grow to trust the world and, of course, herself. A captivating story of human resilience.--Elyssa Everling

Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Over her first four psychological thrillers, Irish author Liz Nugent has shown she’s a master at taking readers into some dark, twisted corners of family relationships. She’s been a magician with hard-to-like protagonists, igniting our curiosity, fascination, even empathy, through her rich characterisation, superb prose, and sublime storytelling. While she’s already scooped four Irish Book Awards among her accolades, Nugent may have raised the bar even higher with her new novel, Strange Sally Diamond. I devoured this unique tale in a few hours over a single day. It’s a page-whirrer, with depth, and a truly unforgettable main character. Sally Diamond is a ‘socially deficient’ lady in her 40s whose neurodivergence and occasional extreme outbursts may be more nurture rather than nature. While her teenage years and adulthood were perhaps too sheltered, her earlier years were about as grossly traumatic as they could be. Though she can’t remember them. So when her fellow villagers and the police are horrified by what Sally did, she can’t understand why. She was just doing what her adopted father, a retired psychiatrist, asked. When he dies, no fuss, just ‘put him out with the bins’. You burn rubbish, right? Public notoriety brings extra pressure on a woman struggling to find her place, but as Sally comes into herself and starts connecting with others, her terrible past comes back too. Exquisite storytelling, a full palette of emotions; dark and funny, hope and despair. Reviewed by Craig Sisterson   ABOUT THE AUTHOR Liz was born in Dublin in 1967. Liz first began to write for broadcast in 2003. Between 2003 and 2013, she worked as a Story Associate on the popular television soap opera Fair City. She had several pieces accepted for Sunday Miscellany, a radio series on RTE Radio 1 specialising in nostalgic autobiographical writing. Subsequently, she had two children’s stories accepted by the Fiction 15 series for the same broadcaster. In 2006, her first short story for adults, Alice, was shortlisted for the Francis McManus Short Story Prize. Liz went on to write a children’s animation series called 'The Resistors' for TG4. Her half-hour drama, The Appointment was one of four winners chosen to be broadcast live on TG4 in the Seomra Sé series. Liz’s first novel Unravelling Oliver was published to critical and popular acclaim in Ireland in  2014. It quickly became a firm favourite with book clubs and reader’s groups. In November of that year, it went on to win the Crime Novel of the Year at the Irish Book Awards and was long listed for the International Dublin Literature Prize 2016. She was also the winner of the inaugural Jack Harte Bursary provided by the Irish Writers Centre and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Dec 2014. Her second novel, Lying in Wait, was released in July 2016. It went straight to number 1 in the Irish Bestseller lists, remaining there for nine weeks and spent eight months in the top 10. In September 2016, Liz was awarded the Ireland Funds Monaco bursary and went to Monaco for a month to write in the Princess Grace Irish library. In November 2016, Lying in Wait won the RTE Ryan Tubridy Show Listener’s Choice Award at the Bord Gais Energy Irish Book Awards. The book was also shortlisted in the Crime Fiction category. It has been long listed for the Dublin International Literary Award 2018. Lying in Wait was chosen as part of the Spring 2017 list for the very prestigious Richard & Judy Book Club in the UK and in April 2017, it was the winner of the Reader’s Choice Award of the Richard & Judy Spring List. Scout Press, published Unraveling Oliver in 2017, Lying in Wait in 2018 and Little Cruelties in 2020. She is very pleased to be in the editorial hands of Jackie Cantor in...