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Penance

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Penance

By: Eliza Clark
Narrated by: Anna Gilthorpe, Emily Goldie, Evie Hargreaves, George Weightman, Holly Jay Bowes, Salima Saxton
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About this listen

'One of the summer's most talked-about books.' SUNDAY TIMES

'An unmissable banger that you need to preorder immediately.' ALICE SLATER
'You've never read anything like this.' JULIA ARMFIELD

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 years since the horrifying murder of sixteen-year-old Joan Wilson rocked Crow-on-Sea, and the events of that terrible night are now being published for the first time.

That story is Penance, a dizzying feat of masterful storytelling, where Eliza Clark manoeuvres us through accounts from the inhabitants of this small seaside town. Placing us in the capable hands of journalist Alec. Z. Carelli, Clark allows him to construct what he claims is the 'definitive account' of the murder - and what led up to it. Built on 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.

The only question is: how much of it is true?

©2023 Eliza Clark (P)2023 Faber & Faber Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Psychological Thriller & Suspense Fiction Exciting Scary Murder Crime

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Critic reviews

'One of the summer's most talked-about books.' Sunday Times

'An unmissable banger that you need to preorder immediately.' Alice Slater

'You've never read anything like this.' Julia Armfield
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Great story that keeps you gripped till the end, really making you think about true crime and obsession surrounding it.

Excellent

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I really enjoyed this audio book. It’s definitely disturbing but thought provoking at the same time. I love Eliza Clark’s writing and the narrators were great.

5 out of 5

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Novel is presented in the form of a true crime novel written by a disgraced journalist. This is (in my experience anyway) a new, relevant and exciting way to present a tale of what is ostensibly a “mean girl” murder that is, of course, anything but that once the writer delves into the backgrounds of the murderers. Very well read by the performers (maybe the podcasts could have been replicated with some American accents?!) the novel moves at a great pace, never lagging and leaving the reader (listener) wanting more. Had I had the pleasure of reading this on a sunny holiday rather than listening during a chaotic house move I am sure I would have devoured it within a couple of days. Brilliant work by the author I look forward to her next work.

Excellent story and performance

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Loved every second of this. Really left like I was inhabiting this dreadful seaside town

Brilliant

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…. Z…. …. … and you know it was a lie that you didn’t get the job and you were just a bunch more stupid and dumb than the people

.

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What a disappointment. Kept hoping for it to turn into something more, but it never did.

Deeply underwhelming

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Brilliantly done book.
Despite knowing what happens from the very beginning the description of the build up to the main event was so captivating. I never wanted the book to end. It is really interesting how it shows true crime podcasts/books being often disrespectful to the victims family and friends yet the events of the book were based on a true crime that happened in the 90s in America. I think it shows the hypocrisy of true crime fans and writers, that I found myself so captivated by this story and agreeing that the ‘writer’ has done wrongdoings by the way he treat the victims families yet that is exactly what this entire book does to a real case. Obviously Eliza Clark changed a lot of the main features of the true case (names, locations, dates) so she didn’t do what the writer did in the book to that extent. I hope this makes sense it was hard to put into words. But overall, a brilliant read and would absolutely recommend.

outstanding

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I was not too sure whether I was going to get into it at the beginning but into it I did get and I found this book rather haunting. I have teenage children and work in a high school and this is truly a thought provoking read. I am not a massive fan of true crime but the reviews were good and I thought it would make a change, I am so glad I downloaded it as an audiobook The narration was fantastic and kept me interested the whole way through.

Gripping and thought provoking

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As a fan of true crime (kind of a retired fan) this book was very interesting and definitely put into words many things I've been thinking and feeling about the genre for a while. Through the narrative structure of a true crime book being told to us, by a fiction author with a muddied past, we are forced to question what necessity and function true crime holds in our society. The vivid world of complex interpersonal relationships between a group of high-school girls who all have their own dysfunctions, traumas and struggles was painted with a near-spooky realism. This book places the reader/listener in the contradictory shoes of: creator of true crime content, consumer of true crime content, and perpetrator of crime, and forces you to take a hard look in the mirror in every instance.

Thought provoking and unique

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I just can't get over this book, so many layers, so well written from so many points of view, it feels like a collage of information, the various textures of format keeps it fresh, I can't get enough of it

I'm on my third listen, I can't stop thinking about the story

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