Strange Sally Diamond written by Liz Nugent and published by Penguin Books

Just by reading the first paragraph of this book you will be completely and utterly hooked and will instantly want to know more about the person that is "Strange Sally Diamond". Sally has always been very different from the other children, bullied at school with no ability to make friends she lives on a remote farm with her elderly father. When she does have to go into the village, she pretends to be deaf so that she doesn’t have to interact with anyone. Sally leads a very literal life, and so when someone asks her to do something, she’ll carry out their wishes, to the letter. She does not have the ability to read between the lines, and at the start of the story she doesn’t possess a lot of emotions, but this is something she works through. Bought up by her adoptive parents, we learn more about Sally’s upbringing and what happened to her previously with her back story.

This book will send shivers down your spine and make the hairs on your arms stand up, which is what we have learnt to expect from Liz Nugent and she certainly delivers that again in this book. She has always been one of my go-to favourite authors and I find myself waiting rather impatiently for her next offering because you know it’s going to be brilliant! I would personally say that this is her best book to date.

You are going to love this, and there’s no doubt that this will be one of the most popular books of 2023 which will fly off the shelves. You will race through this story, so when you buy it you’ll need to clear the decks and make sure you allow yourself 24-48 hours completely void of any distractions or disturbances. I am desperate to talk to people about this book there are many things I want to talk about!!

If I could have one wish, it would be that I could go back and read it again for the first time.

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