Finding an Author that contends with Jodi Picoult as one of my absolute favourites in the domestic drama / contemporary fiction setting is a challenge but Kristin Koval might well be the one!
Penitence has exactly what we want to see in a domestic drama with feeling- a novel that explores exactly what it means to seek redemption, flawed characters and restrained but powerful writing. A novel that starts with a question, right there on the front cover, ‘Could you forgive the person who took your child from you?’ Could you? What if it wasn’t that simple? What if that very person, was your other child? What does it mean to lose both you children at once? The flawed characters are very real, and this brings in an emotional depth that just works. This book isn’t paced like a thriller, it gives room for a gentle uncloaking which somehow connects us as readers even more to the characters.
The build of tension is spot on – there’s space for your perspective to shift along with those of the main characters, as the book progresses. The moral complexity is challenging, and more than once you will change your views, perhaps left pondering even more by the end.
About the Book
Are you more than the worst thing you have ever done, or are some things too terrible to forgive?
When teenager Nora Sheehan fatally shoots her brother Nico in their family home one evening, her parents’ lives are left shattered. Nico had been diagnosed with a terminal illness – was what Nora did an act of mercy, or something far darker? And what will happen to her now, alone in a juvenile detention centre awaiting trial, unable or unwilling to speak?
Out of their depth, Angie and David Sheehan turn to local lawyer Martine Dumont for help. Martine isn’t just legal counsel – she’s also the mother of Angie’s first love Julian, now a high-powered New York defence attorney who returns to their rural Colorado hometown to assist with the case.
But Julian’s arrival stirs up secrets buried in his and Angie’s past – mistakes with far-reaching and damaging consequences. And as the verdict that will decide Nora’s fate looms, the two families find themselves confronted with the same heart-wrenching questions: what will they will fight to hold on to, and what must they be prepared to let go?
About The Author
Kristin Koval is a former lawyer who always wanted to be a writer but initially wandered down other paths. Her debut novel, Penitence, is a Barnes & Noble Discover Pick, a Book of the Month Pick, an Indie Next Pick, an Apple Books Staff Pick, an Apple Audiobooks Must Listen, a People Magazine Book of the Week and a Goodreads Most Anticipated Pick and Hottest Debut selection. She attended Phillips Exeter Academy, Georgetown University and Columbia Law School. In her free time, she enjoys photography, travelling, skiing, running, biking and triathlons. She lives in the Rocky Mountains in the United States with her husband, two sons and two Great Danes.
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This book can be purchased in our store either on its own or in a cosy Book Box.
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