Strange Sally Diamond

I knew nothing about this book going in and really wish I had; let me help you not make the same mistake! This story, which reads somewhat like a darker Elinor Oliphant, begins when Sally's father dies. He told her many a time that he wanted her to put him out with the trash when he dies—and when she takes this advice at face value, she prompts a police investigation that makes headlines. The news reports lead to the disclosure of a secret Sally's adoptive parents had managed to keep buried for many years: the identity of her birth father, who committed unspeakable crimes, including against Sally herself. In many ways, this book is an exploration of generational trauma and the question of nature vs. nurture; shockingly terrible things happen in these pages, yet Sally herself is an altogether winning character and a source of much of the book's humor and light. Although I hear there's less of that light in the original Irish edition: I'm in the U.S., and read an ending that was modified to be a bit more hopeful. (I can't get my hands on that original ending: If you know more, please tell me!)