Strange Sally Diamond: A BBC Between the Covers Book Club Pick

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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 . . . As usual when I try to review mystery thrillers, it's difficult to say anything about it, and best to approach it without any knowledge. Sally is one of two narrators, and she's a bit odd, mysterious even, but her story is compelling and she pulls you along. The other narrator I won't say too much about, except that they are a bit more self-serving, and on a different trajectory, giving us another viewpoint.

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. I HIGHLY recommend the Audible version, narrated by Jessica Regan, Stephen Hogan and Jessica Lyman. (10 hours, 2 minutes)No live organism can continue for long to exist under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Strange Sally Diamond was one of my most anticipated reads of the summer, and it did not disappoint. Sally is a very endearing, fully-fleshed character who resembles two of my literary favorites, Fern from Sally Hepworth’s The Good Sister and Molly from Nita Prose’s The Maid. I was rooting for her success immediately and enjoyed her entire journey to the truth about her past. Nugent takes a deep dive into the psychological effects of abuse, exploring themes of racism, chauvinism, loneliness, outsiderness, homophobia, and pedophilia along the way. As in most of Nugent’s books, the plot is more aligned with psychological suspense than that of a thriller. However, there are a few good twists along the way! My only issue is that the ending felt a bit rushed, causing me to lower my rating from 5 stars to 4.5 stars. Overall, I highly recommend this book to those who enjoy reading about the psychological effects of trauma and abuse. Sally is an unforgettable character! Best known for his Artemis Fowl series for children, Highfire was Colfer’s first adult fantasy novel, a genre I had avoided because of my own narrow mind. But this line hooked me straight away. Vern, as it turns out, is a dragon, the last of his kind and a confirmed anthropophobic. The opening line shows that we have failed him. This fact is unequivocal. Why would he ever have anything to do with us in the future? I had to read on to find out in this wildly entertaining take on being antisocial. MyHome.ie (Opens in new window) • Top 1000 • The Gloss (Opens in new window) • Recruit Ireland (Opens in new window) • Irish Times Training (Opens in new window)

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. After her return to Ireland she enrolled in an acting course at the Gaiety School of Acting, but soon switched to stage management. She toured the world with Riverdance as a stage manager and later worked in an administrative role in RTÉ on its flagship soap Fair City. [2] She is definitely a bit of an Eleanor Oliphant kind of character. She finds social situations very difficult and doesn't always react emotionally like people think she should, but being inside her head is often entertaining. Neurotypical human socialization through her eyes seems absolutely ludicrous a lot of the time. 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.

This story starts off with Sally being brought into the public eye for taking her father out to the trash when he died. Now, he always told Sally that’s what she should do- how was she to know that he was only joking? After her father’s death, she does come across letters that he wrote for her to open. Sally is to read one letter each week, and with these letters we will find out what happened to Sally before her seventh birthday, since Sally has no recollection whatsoever. Sally Diamond is seen as strange, in her forties, she's lived an isolated life in a remote rural house. She avoids social interaction. An event following the death of her father drags her name into the limelight, with unwanted media and police attention.

Probably the most startling of all, this opening belies the title, because wherever this is set, it’s far from paradise. Someone is shooting girls, and is prioritising their executions by their colour. How many girls will follow? Who is doing the shooting, and why? Is this the norm for the society the reader is about to inhabit or is this the a terrible one-off? In six words, Toni Morrison has grabbed us by the throat. 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.

No-one quite writes flawed characters like Liz Nugent does and Strange Sally Diamond is full of them. This book grabbed me from the very first sentence and when a book does that, you just know it's going to be a good'un. A masterpiece in characterisation and another 5 ***** read as brilliant and gripping as all of her previous books. I urge you to read it. I loved this book so much! I have read and enjoyed everything Liz Nugent has ever written and Strange Sally Diamond is no exception. This was a read-it-in-one-sitting book for me. It was such a unique physiological thriller and I literally could not put it down. It is told in a very clever way via two points of view and two timelines that eventually collide into a surprising ending.