Penance

A Novel

By: Eliza Clark

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

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.

I liked it

What can I say I was a fan I liked this book I like Eliza Clark I liked the performance :) thank you!

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.

❤️❤️❤️

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.

Could have been good, turned into a dumb person lecture

Started off good, but was a waste of time in the end. This book seems like it’s going to make some interesting points about true crime and girlhood, then just doesn’t. It has too many threads and by the end decides to focus on the least interesting ones when it comes to these themes and the characters we get to know. Instead, the author trots out the bone cold take that maybe true crime entertainment might not always be moral and fans should feel bad about that. Even this would be fine, I guess, if not mixed with unneeded and at times hypocritical details, such as needlessly explaining internet slang, jokes made about nuerodivergent and queer people to “lighten the mood,” and a time wastingly detailed account of a fictional school shooting that has literally nothing to do with the story in the book. It’s disappointing, because the characters are well written, so to have them and their story revealed as fairly shallow felt, as another reviewer said, like a waste of brain cells. But, I guess when an author makes the whole project of her book to finger wag people for not being compassionate, then turns around and makes fun of teenagers on tumblr, you can’t expect something from a mind that thinks that deeply about what’s actually around her

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.

Still good!

I liked boy parts better, but I found this to be clever and interesting. The end chapter really made it. I wanted more of the girl’s perspectives and loved when we got those, not even because of how it drives the story, just because they’re well written and fun to listen to

Just okay

I am completely indifferent to this book. There were times when the events in the book stirred my emotions, but mostly, my feelings remained stagnant.

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.