Penance

A Novel

By: Eliza Clark

Narrated by: Hollie-Jay Bowes, Anna Gilthorpe, Emily Goldie, Evie Hargreaves, Salima Saxton, George Weightman

Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

One of Granta's Best Young British Novelists 2023

“Eliza Clark’s writing embraces the socially unacceptable and wryly explores themes of gender, power, and violence.”—Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists 2023

“Chilling, clever, and unputdownable.”—Guardian

From the author of the cult hit Boy Parts comes a chilling, brilliantly told story of murder among a group of teenage girls—a powerful and disturbing novel as piercing in its portrait of young women as Emma Cline’s The Girls.

On a beach in a run-down seaside town on the Yorkshire coastline, sixteen-year-old Joan Wilson is set on fire by three other schoolgirls.

Nearly a decade after the horrifying murder, journalist Alec Z. Carelli has written the definitive account of the crime, drawn from hours of interviews with witnesses and family members, painstaking historical research, and most notably, correspondence with the killers themselves. The result is a riveting snapshot of lives rocked by tragedy, and a town left in turmoil.

But how much of the story is true?

Compulsively readable, provocative, and disturbing, Penance is a cleverly nuanced, unflinching exploration of gender, class, and power that raises troubling questions about the media and our obsession with true crime while bringing to light the depraved side of human nature and our darkest proclivities.

©2023 Eliza Clark (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers

she did it again!

left me unsettled and confused as to who the “true” villain(s) really is. lots to think about

The characters

Grasped my attention at the beginning of the book, but as the book progressed I began to loose interest in the story in general.

too much of the r slur and a few indelicate moments

Overall, I thought this was really interesting. However, I did find the fact that the author made the narrator a middle aged guy a bit strange considering the content and the story. Sorta detached from real girlhood in the way Steven King’s “Carrie” is. Also, I know the author was poking fun at gen z cancel culture and online culture, but I found her repeated use of the r slur offensive. I just think it was unnecessary. Overall, I’m not sure the author was truly any more profound than the podcasts she claims to be making fun of, but I did still find value and interest in it, despite its slightly strange insistence on moral high ground.

Thought it would be better.

The premise sounds really interesting, but she gets a bit bogged down by the details. It was slow, and all the juicy stuff takes place at the beginning. Not the worst thing I’ve read lately, but the hype is a little much for what you actually get.

❤️❤️❤️

Nothing but love here! I really felt like I got to know all the ins and outs of each character, even the smaller ones. Kept my interest all the way through. Narration was great. The scenes played out like a movie. I loved Eliza Clark from Boy Parts, but I loved Penance even more. I can’t wait to see what she comes out with next.

waste of time

hands down, the worst book i’ve listened to on audible. there are six or seven story lines to keep straight. agreed with another review that the author gets lost in trying to be detailed or trying so hard to appeal to teenage language and behaviors. way too much time spent on this. totally distracts away from the story line, which seemed exciting and a real story i could read about. you get the whole jist of the book in the paragraph description and spend hours wasting brain cells. the whole book is fluff.