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Penance

Eliza Clark (author)

Hardback Published on: 09/10/2025

£15.00

26 reviews

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Bookseller Reviews

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PENANCE

Eliza Clark deserves 6 stars. Thank you to Faber for the ARC. I cannot wait for the release of this book in July so everyone gets to read it! If you enjoy... READ MORE

Lauren at Birmingham at High Wycombe

Do you know what happened already? Did you know her?

Penance deserves to be one of the standout novels of 2023. This is a work of fiction dressed as a true crime history of the shocking murder of a schoolgirl... READ MORE

Red

PENANCE

Hell is a state school in a small town in the North East of England. Hell is an abandoned theme park. Hell is posting on tumblr.com at three in the morning... READ MORE

Ellen at Hexham at Hexham

refreshing and unsettling

Reading Penance by Eliza Clark was an experience that left a lasting impression on me. One of the aspects that truly stood out to me was how it made me con... READ MORE

Celina at Waterstones Liverpool, Liverpool at Liverpool

"Did you see the pictures of the body? Did you look for them?"

This is an astonishingly good novel. A work of fiction, presented entirely as a true crime book about a brutal, tragic crime, this is a very clever, very t... READ MORE

Helen at Scarborough

Best new author in Britain

Eliza Clark is the best new author in the UK. You can disagree if you like but you'll be wrong. I suspected as much when I read Boy Parts and it's been con... READ MORE

Kevin Render at Glasgow

Outstanding

Eliza Clark's 'Penance' is a breathtaking account of a fictional murder through the lens of (the unlikeable) Alec Z. Corelli. This novel had me gasping... READ MORE

Hannah Torres at London

PENANCE

This! book! Is! So! GOOD! I was lucky enough to get my hands on a proof, and I’m overjoyed that I did. I can’t wait for everyone to read it. Eliza Clark i... READ MORE

Olivia Wright at Manchester

Compelling but a little too slow paced

I’ve been sitting with this one for a while and I’m still not entirely sure what to think about it. I loved Eliza Clark’s debut Boy Parts, and I am one of ... READ MORE

Olivia at Twickenham

I loved it, a fantsatic analysis of society's obsession with true crime

I haven't stopped thinking about Penance since I finished reading it. It's such a clever novel that I devoured mostly in one sitting, it really blurs the l... READ MORE

Amoy Daley, Waterstones Leamington Spa at Leamington Spa

Horrifyingly propulsive.

Fantastic. Seamlessly blends narrative storytelling with interviews and text dialogue to create a truly horrific tale. Maintains Clark’s writing style foll... READ MORE

Frankie Bishop

Darkly Nostalgic

This was an incredibly nostalgic read for me, as it follows the lives of teenage girls in a horrible seaside Yorkshire town during the 2010s. It got to a p... READ MORE

Ella at Wakefield at Harrogate, North Yorkshire

Ethical True Crime

Probably the best book to come out of 2023. ‘Penance’ is written from the perspective of a failed tabloid journalist who, in an effort to revive his lite... READ MORE

Noemie Boulle at London

The epitome of unreliable narration...

'Penance' is brilliant. The book slowly unravels the night of a murder in a small Northern seaside town told via a build up of interviews, true crime podca... READ MORE

Gemma Dudley at Wigan

eliza's sophomore novel absolutely SLAPS

So, I LOVED Boy Parts. I loved it so much. But I was still a little apprehensive going into Penance because I have some feelings about the true crime genre... READ MORE

Rhea | Barnstaple at Barnstaple

"All that is left is the ghostly echo...."

I am a HUGE fan of Clark's debut, Boy Parts, so I was incredibly excited to read this new book. Think Mean Girls meets Heathers meets The Craft, and add ... READ MORE

Hebe at Fareham at Fareham, Hampshire

Synopsis

Do you know what happened already? Did you know her? Did you see it on the internet? Did you listen to a podcast? Did the hosts make jokes?

Did you see the pictures of the body?

Did you look for them?

It's been nearly a decade since the horrifying murder of sixteen-year-old Joan Wilson rocked the small seaside town of Crow-on-Sea. Based on hours of interviews with witnesses and family members, and even correspondence with the killers themselves, journalist Alec Z. Carelli has constructed what he claims is the 'definitive account' of the crime. It's a riveting snapshot of lives scarred by tragedy, and a town left in turmoil.

The only question is: how much of Carelli's story is true?

Publisher information

Publisher: Faber & Faber
ISBN: 9780571398232
Number of pages: 448
Dimensions: 198 x 129 mm
Languages: English

Customer Reviews

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A compulsive and unsettling examination of the morality of true-crime.

Although Clark’s second novel ‘Penance’ takes quite a different approach to her first one (don’t go into this expecting Boy Parts 2.0), her debut gives eno... READ MORE

leah / @lbhreads

An enrapturing read

Penance is stomach-churning. The fact that this is fiction doesn't take away the absolute macabre horror, either. You can consider yourselves warned. Un... READ MORE

Georgina (ReadsEatsExplores)

Masterful

Challenging the ethical ambiguities surrounding the production of true crime books and podcasts (and the questionable playing with truth in the search of a... READ MORE

Christopher Deeks

Disappointing

I found this a tedious read,

Patrick Edington

Engaging and thought provoking

The premise is simple, adolescence girls murder a peer. However the approach of Clark lifts this well written and completely accessible novel into someth... READ MORE

Ryan Bainbridge

This is how you do issue fiction

This was soooo meta like, this is how you do issue fiction! The double (unreliable) narration, chronic online-ness, teen female friendship, fandom obsessio... READ MORE

Roz

Brilliantly portrayed characters

A really well-told mystery in the vein of Matt Wesolowski’s Six Stories series. Clark paints adolescents with empathy and understanding. She also capture... READ MORE

vpeanuts

Loved just as much as her debut

I loved the author’s debut Boy Parts, and this one disturbed and entertained me just as much. Read it if: you’re interested in the dynamic around teenag... READ MORE

Ella Tansley

Trash. Written about 15 year old girls…..by 15 year old girls?

I don’t normally leave reviews but I felt compelled to call this one out. Yet another book whose cover is full of plaudits and praise and its contents are ... READ MORE

Louise Pinkney

An amazing read!

Penance is an utterly compelling novel with a disturbing, bleak and haunting narrative. It explores a lot and evokes many feelings and questions as one rea... READ MORE

jamie ☕️

Penance

Bookseller Reviews

Synopsis

Publisher information

Customer Reviews

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