I won’t say anything more because it's best you experience this book without too much prior information! Nugent writes relatable, imperfect characters… 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.” Sally hasn’t had anything to do with the outside world, she finds it impossible to have a conversation with strangers, and hates people touching her. After her mother died, it was just her and her psychiatrist father in an isolated house in Ireland, and he was quite happy for her to stay home. However, after it’s discovered what she did with him after his death, the world’s media turn up at her door together with the local guards (police) and for a time her name is on everyone’s lips. Then messages start to turn up from a stranger, who seems to know a lot more about her than she does herself, because Sally has no memories of her life before 7 years of age, when her mother and father adopted her, but she’s about to find out, and her life will be completely turned upside down. STRANGE SALLY DIAMOND is a riveting story about a very unique woman. Sally sees the world and processes things differently that most people, perhaps due in part to her traumatic childhood, or not. When her dad jokingly told her to throw him out with the garbage when he dies, she did just that. However, burning her dead father's body in an incinerator brought the wrong attention to her doorstep, including some ghosts from her horrific past.

Did you once say you’d feel like a proper writer, having written five books? Does it get easier? Have you changed?

Nugent pens a thrilling, utterly immersive mystery that, paired with Sally’s unique, unforgettable voice, makes it a true winner. . . Nugent is at the top of her game here, and I cannot wait to see what she has in store for us next.” If there is something I have come to expect from a Liz Nugent book it’s that it will be completely twisted, highly original and very, very dark and Strange Sally Diamond is no exception. Reclusive Sally Diamond causes outrage by trying to incinerate her dead father. Now she’s the centre of attention, not only from the hungry media, but also a sinister voice from a past she does not remember.

Lying in Wait, published in 2016, went straight to number 1 and was chosen for the Richard & Judy Book Club. It won the Radio 1 Ryan Tubridy Listeners Choice Award at the Irish Book Awards. Nugent, you thrilled me! But this was not a delightful story. It was dark. It was disturbing. It was compelling. And Sally. What an authentic character. Like why is it that heartbreak visits those it should never cast a shadow upon? When pathways cross like stars in the Universe only to create stone cold tragedy that can never be mended. Regan and Hogan bear the weight of the storytelling up to the epilogue and both were masterful. She embodied the “strangeness” and innocence of Sally and he captured the confusing essence of his. If you can listen to this story, do it! The old house hunkers on its hill, all peeling white paint, bay windows, and spindled wooden railings overgrown with climbing roses and poison oak.Liz Nugent inks six-figure deal with major US publisher". 14 September 2016 – via www.rte.ie. {{ cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= ( help) Strange Sally Diamond is a fabulous psychological thriller where the tension keeps getting ratcheted up in an intriguing manner. Sally is the most compelling character here though, and she is clearly no monster. When she begins to blossom as a person, the tone of the novel noticeably changes. She becomes more optimistic, the world appears more benign, life gets easier. An Irish woman, in her forties, Sally is astonishingly literal-minded, utterly oblivious to irony and sarcasm.