📖 Book review ~ Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent

 

Penguin
2 March 2023

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

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.

📖My Review..

It's been awhile since I read a Liz Nugent novel and I'm left wondering why it took me so long. Strange Sally Diamond is one of those totally immersive novels which, right from the start, captures your imagination and I think Sally is certainly one of the most memorable literary characters I've met this year.

The story gets off to a harrowing start with Sally following her father's instructions by putting him out with the rubbish when he died. That Sally takes everything that people say quite literally is obvious from the start and although the small Irish community where she lives are both fascinated and repelled by her, there is also an element of acceptance as Sally has, despite her adoptive parent's protection, always been considered to be a bit odd. Now in her forties and, after her father's death, quite alone in the world, Sally has to learn to find her way but when sinister messages start to arrive from someone Sally doesn't know it opens up a whole set of secrets about her difficult past which have been hidden for far too long. These secrets are not an easy read and once exposed can never be forgotten, or forgiven.

Beautifully written, with no word wasted, and no emotion left unexplored, Strange Sally Diamond is a complex, and utterly addictive, story which shocks you to the core and which doesn't let go of your emotions until the very last page is turned.

About the Author

Before becoming a full-time writer, Liz Nugent worked in film, theatre and television. Her four novels - Unravelling Oliver, Lying in Wait, Skin Deep and Our Little Cruelties have each been Number One bestsellers and she has won four Irish Book Awards, as well as the James Joyce Medal for Literature. She lives in Dublin.

Strange Sally Diamond is a BBC Between the Covers Book Club Pick 2023

Twitter @lizzienugent #StrangeSallyDiamond

Website

@PenguinUKBooks

Blog Tour ~ Skin Deep by Liz Nugent

Jaffareadstoo is thrilled to host today's stop on the Skin Deep Blog Tour

Penguin
2018

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of the book and my invitation to this blog tour

Cordelia Russell has been living on the French Riviera for twenty-five years, passing herself off as an English socialite. But her luck, and the kindness of strangers, have run out.

The arrival of a visitor from her distant past shocks Cordelia. She reacts violently to the intrusion and flees her flat to spend a drunken night at a glittering party. As dawn breaks she stumbles home through the back streets. Even before she opens her door she can hear the flies buzzing. She did not expect the corpse inside to start decomposing quite so quickly . . .

My thoughts about Skin Deep..

Right from the very start of this remarkable story there is never a moment when the narrative doesn't leave you reeling with surprise. The opening chapter was so compelling that I didn't want to stop turning the pages, I was so engrossed in the complicated life of Cordelia Russell that I didn't notice time passing. Cordelia is a woman, who it must be said, has very few, if any, redeeming qualities, and from her complicated childhood, on an isolated Irish island, which was devastated by a family tragedy, Cordelia seems to lurch from one complicated mess to another, but does so with a supercilious flair which you can't help but in a weird sort of way admire.

This author does complicated females with such panache and in Skin Deep has created the most abominable characters and yet, does so with such precision and genuine thought provoking badness that you can't help but become engrossed in the complicated world of Cordelia Russell and her associates.

Skin Deep really does get under your skin from the very beginning and I won't spoil things by explaining too much about the whys and wherefores as this is one of those deliciously dark suspense stories which is best read without any prior knowledge of where the story is heading. That the story is heading in a very dark direction becomes obvious as the story progresses, and I raced through the book at top speed as I didn't want to miss a single minute.

I devoured, yes, that's the right word, devoured, Skin Deep from its opening pages to its entirely appropriate conclusion. It's dark, dangerous and deliciously addictive and I loved it 😉  

About the Author

Before becoming a full-time writer, Liz Nugent worked in Irish film, theatre and television. In 2014 her first novel, Unravelling Oliver, was a Number One bestseller and won the Crime Fiction Prize in the 2014 Irish Book Awards. Her second novel, Lying in Wait, went straight to Number One in the Irish bestseller charts, remained there for nearly two months and won her a second IBA. She lives in Dublin with her husband.

Website

Twitter @lizzienugent #SkinDeep

@PenguinUKBooks