Penance

An utterly chilling, compulsive story of a murder among teenagers, on the eve of the historic Brexit vote, by a major new voice in British fiction.

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?

Review

Eliza Clark is a genius with voice and a master of flipped expectations. Penance astonished me with its breadth, wit and confidence. A wickedly clever deep dive into the nastier corners of the national psyche - you've never read anything like this. -- Julia Armfield

Boy Parts was always going to be a tough act to follow, and Penance rises to the challenge - and engulfs it in flames. An unmissable banger that you need to preorder immediately. -- Alice Slater

As bleak as it is compelling, Penance is a perfect dark satire of the voyeuristic true crime industry and the media's complicity in sensationalising the pointless destruction of human lives into a vulgar, grubby money-making circus. -- Charlotte Vassell

Fans of Joseph Knox's True Crime Story and Megan Abbott's teen noirs will love Clark's meta-meditation on the mysteries, malice, and minutiae of adolescence. -- Tom Benn

I loved Boy Parts but this was another creature entirely. Coolly detached, stricter, cleaner, and still insanely propulsive. Vivid, excellent dialogue, at times heartbreaking. She's a master of structure that Clark. -- Jenny Mustard

I was left thoroughly gaslit by Penance, a dizzying exploration of the ethics of true crime. In a novel that manages to be both deeply disturbing and hilarious, Clark nails teenage pain and posturing, as well as the seductive moral vacuum of the online world. -- Imogen Crimp

One of the summer's most talked-about books. ― Sunday Times, hottest new novels for summer 2023

About the Author

Eliza Clark is the author of Boy Parts (2020) and Penance (2023). In 2020, Boy Parts was Blackwell's Fiction book of the year, and in 2022 Eliza was chosen as a finalist for the Women's Prize Futures Award for writers under thirty-five. In 2023, she was named one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists. She also writes for film and television. A stage adaptation of Boy Parts will premiere at Soho Theatre in October 2023.