Strange Sally Diamond

When I saw that Lisa Jewell said this was the best book she read all year, I knew it was a MUST! I would describe this as a mashup of The Maid and Then She Was Gone. There are trigger warnings for child abuse and rape. It is dark and disturbing. But I like dark. Sally Diamond is a bit of a reclusive and considered a bit strange. When her father dies, there is a miscommunication and she tries to incinerate his body. This causes widespread outrage and she’s thrust into the media spotlight. Something horrible happened to her as a child, things that her parents had buried in the past. But this newfound media attention causes secrets to come to light. She begins to discover repressed memories. Her new neighbor seems to be a bit obsessed with her. A childhood toy arrives in the mail. Meanwhile, for the first time in her life, Sally is trying to make new friends and live on her own (while navigating social nuances she doesn’t entirely understand). It is rare for a book to feel both horribly dark but also heartwarming, but that is the case here. I couldn’t put it down, I really, really loved it.