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Diary
Diary
Jan 16, 2026 10:31 PM

Author:Chuck Palahniuk

Diary

Diary takes the form of a 'coma diary' kept by one Misty Tracy Wilmot as her husband lies senseless in hospital after a suicide attempt. Once she was an art student dreaming of creativity and freedom; now, after marrying Peter at art school and being brought back to once quaint, now tourist-overrun Waytansea Island, she's been reduced to the condition of a resort hotel maid. Peter, it turns out, has been hiding rooms in houses he's refurbished and scrawling vile messages all over the walls. Angry homeowners are suing, and Misty's dreams of artistic greatness are in ashes. But then, as if possessed by the spirit of Maura Kinkaid, a fabled Waytansea artist of the nineteenth century, Misty begins painting again, compulsively. The canvases are taken away by her mother-in-law and her doctor, who seem to have a plan for Misty - and for all those annoying tourists...

Reviews

His most scarily nihilistic and resonant book since Fight Club

—— Independent on Sunday

Like a noxious Douglas Coupland, Palahniuk charts new-felt and totally contemporary categories of despair

—— Ali Smith , Guardian

A nihilistic masterpiece

—— NME

Part Rosemary's Baby, part The Wicker Man... The shocks are shocking and the twists nice and taut

—— Time Out

A truly terrifying horror story with some interestingly radical underpinnings

—— I-D

A fun read, the novel's charm lies in its quirky humour

—— Elizabeth Buchan , The Sunday Times

This is poignant, quirky and delightfully original

—— Woman & Home

Confirms that she's a writer to watch

—— Bella

A delightful tale

—— Good Housekeeping

This is an assured second novel - and wonderful company for that long-overdue summer trip

—— Press Assocation

Imaginative and transporting, but entirely unfussy and unsentimental, the novel is written with a glint in the eye that gives it that extra bit of wind beneath its wings

—— Nicola Barr , Guardian

Wilson has done his research impeccably and he writes superbly well

—— Literary Review
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