‘Put me out with the bins,’ he said, regularly. ‘When I die, put me out with the bins. I’ll be dead, so I won’t know any different. You’ll be crying your eyes out,’ and he would laugh and I’d laugh too because we both knew that I wouldn’t be crying my eyes out. I never cry.
STRANGE SALLY DIAMOND
CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR AT THE IRISH BOOK AWARDS 2023
This wickedly dark, twisted and brilliantly observed new novel from international number one bestselling author Liz Nugent is published in the UK & Ireland by Penguin Sandycove and in Canada & USA by Simon & Schuster.
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.
As she begins to discover the horrors of her early childhood, Sally steps into the world for the first time - making new friends and big decisions, and learning that people don’t always mean what they say.
But who is the man observing Sally from the other side of the world? And why does her new neighbour seem to be obsessed with her? Sally’s trust issues are about to be severely challenged….
“Strange indeed … and smart, too! Shocking, disturbing and utterly original, Strange Sally Diamond will grip you from first page to last.”
- PAULA HAWKINS
“I just this minute finished Strange Sally Diamond and I am shook TO THE CORE!! Best book I've read this year. I will be calling it The Book of 2023 whenever anyone asks! A truly INCREDIBLE reading experience!! I loved every damn second of it.
- LISA JEWELL
“Liz Nugent has outdone herself. Twisted and twisty, dark and gripping, no one is going to forget Sally Diamond in a hurry!”
- GRAHAM NORTON
“ It creeped me out (in a good way). Think Room and The Collector but add a dazzling/unique main character and encroaching dread. Terrific from Liz Nugent.”
- IAN RANKIN
Published in Canada & USA by Simon & Schuster
🇺🇸 US cover for Strange Sally Diamond
What the press say…
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"A heartbreaking but humane tale of people damaged beyond repair."
The Guardian
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"…striking and immersive… delivered brilliantly in Nugent’s distinctive voice."
Irish Independent
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"A strikingly well-observed and consistently surprising psychodrama."
The Times (London)
“It’s compassionate and challenging, letting us imagine the lives that are forgotten when the news cycle moves on … a very special book.”
— VAL MCDERMID
“Dark, compelling, and deeply moving.”
— RUTH WARE
“Strange Sally Diamond is a magnificent novel by a major talent. Liz Nugent is a treasure.”
— SHARI LAPENA
“Another bloody scorcher from Liz Nugent that kept me up to the wee hours to finish. Liz is one of the most intelligent, original, twisty crime writers working in the genre today.”
— ADRIAN MCKINTY
What the press say…
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"Liz Nugent is the master of macabre meditations on the human condition."
Sunday Independent
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"Hypnotic and terrifying..."
Daily Mail
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"This nuanced, perceptive, thrilling and unpredictable book may be her best yet."
Irish Examiner
MARIAN KEYES says…
“I'm lost in admiration for Liz and her writing. I've loved her four previous books, particularly Our Little Cruelties, but Sally Diamond has moved her to another level. It transcends genre and deserves to win literary prizes. It's vivid, pacy, taut but so very moving. It's written with enormous compassion and I LOVED the character of Sally, my heart absolutely broke for her. This novel feels *different*, it seems to me that it defies categorisation. It's dark certainly and the ending is chilling yet it's written with incredible heart.”
It's such a terrific read… What an amazing character. - ANTHONY HOROWITZ
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Liz Nugent dares to go where many won’t. What a compelling storyteller she is. Always challenging. I laughed out loud only to recoil from my laughter as the story unfolded. For this is wickedly dark territory. And yet amidst the darkness, she allows a light to glimmer - that of a diamond. Sally Diamond, to be precise.
SARAH WINMAN
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I’m struggling to find words to describe how wonderful this book is. All at once it’s dark, funny, compelling, shocking and heart-breaking with perfect characters and unrelenting tension. The best book I’ve read in years. Just incredible.
NEIL LANCASTER
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One of the most original, and spine-tingling books I’ve read in ages, Liz Nugent’s Strange Sally Diamond draws you in to the close, claustrophobic world of rural Ireland and the life of an emotionally withdrawn woman whose dark, hidden past is coming back to haunt her. Crackling with tension, this book with have you turning the pages late into the night. An absolute triumph.
ABIR MUKHERJEE
SEBASTIAN BARRY
Two time Costa winner and former fiction laureate of Ireland
“I’ve just finished Strange Sally Diamond and I’m in that dizzy aftermath when you feel you have been through an out of body experience. Something ‘so cool, so calm, so bright,’ as Herbert said of all our days heading for doom — and yet the reader’s hand is being held to its fire in the most subtle, artful, tectonic way. If Liz Nugent was a clockmaker she’d be Galileo. Many readers, consciously or not, may feel an identification with Sally Diamond. I certainly did. We might also be thankful that, unlike her, we can draw our bucket back up out of the dark toxic well she has been assigned. Maybe it doesn’t matter if it’s Liz’s best book, it probably is. But the sheer mastery of the whole thing, the modulated propulsion, her sentences as right as right can be. She is as excellent a writer as anyone living I can think of, and most likely a better novelist. It is all just a perfected dance and how she does it no mortal soul can know.”
“Twisted, shocking and very, very dark, Liz Nugent has created a character for the ages.”
— Louise O’Neill
“A brilliant, brilliant book. I don’t have the skill to give this novel the kind of praise it deserves. It’s devastating. It’s beautiful. It’s mesmerising. Clever. Surprising. Completely immersive. In total awe.”
— Imran Mahmood
“Utterly compelling. Brilliant writing and memorable characters. Genuinely unputdownable.”
— DERVLA MCTIERNAN
“I devoured Strange Sally Diamond and it is still going around in my head days after I finished it. The sense of place is brilliantly achieved. And Sally is such a memorable lead character and the other characters so dark in comparison to her innocence. I loved it!”
— PATRICIA GIBNEY
“What a brave, funny, disquieting, riveting book.”
— LOUISE CANDLISH
“An extraordinary book. Compulsive reading, with one of the most complex, intriguing and moving characters I’ve ever encountered in fiction.”
— CLARE MACKINTOSH
“Utterly addictive with a truly unforgettable heroine. ”
- SINÉAD CROWLEY
A masterpiece - Fiona Cummins
“Dark, disturbing and compelling yet so touching, too. An amazing read. #StrangeSallyDiamond ”
— GILLY MACMILLAN
“Dark, heart-breaking, funny, brilliant – Strange Sally Diamond will stay with for well beyond the final page.”
— PAUL CLEAVE
“So, so good. Sally Diamond gets under your skin and worms her way into your heart. I didn’t want it to end.”
— JANE FALLON
“No one gets into damaged people’s heads like Liz Nugent – I’d have known this was her writing even if her name had been deleted from the cover. Moving, thrilling, enraging and impossible to put down.”
— ERIN KELLY
“Possibly my favourite Liz Nugent book so far. I LOVED IT! Strange Sally strides onto the page, fully formed and funny as hell (this is Liz, we’re talking dark funny). I was hooked from the first paragraph and then Liz toyed with me, I held my breath, gasped, laughed and cried. This is twisty, original and pitch-black. I’ll go anywhere with Liz but only in daylight.”
— NIKKI MAY
“Just finished Strange Sally Diamond. F**k me, what a book. What a book! Achingly beautiful with a cast of characters that'll remain with you long after the final page is turned. Already one of the must-read books of 2023. ”
— JOHN MARRS