Penitence was a super interesting read. I loved the character study and the writing felt propulsive. I'd read more from the author.

This was a tough read. Hard content but beautifully written. I wanted a bit more clarity about what set off the major incident in the novel but then again, I guess life isn’t always that clear or straightforward, is it? The past and present timelines gave some really helpful context and background to the characters. It was like unpeeling an onion.

This was a beautifully written story. The characters were well developed and the author seamlessly intertwined the lives of two families throughout the story.

Like life the tragedy and angst in the book is not magically resolved with a big red bow. It’s messy just like life is. The characters are flawed and admirable-just like we all are.

I loved how the story left me asking myself some of life’s most complicated questions. How do we learn to forgive? How do we move past life-altering tragedy? How do we pick ourselves back up after we have hit rock bottom?

This book punched me in the gut but also drew me in and didn't let me, or my heart, go until the end. It was sad, thought provoking, and genuinely left me conflicted at times. My one wish is for more even pacing, the chapters were long and could feel as if they dragged a bit. However, I can also see reasoning behind slower pacing, really leaving you to sit in thought and emotion.

3.5/5

It took me about half of the book to really get into it, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the way it was laid out. I felt like I couldn’t keep up with who I was really reading about sometimes, but once I got into it, I couldn’t put it down! Penitence is a very complex read but I really enjoyed the way you get to see every characters perspective even if the layout confused me a bit. Overall, I enjoyed this and will be reading more from Koval!

I received an ARC for an honest opinion. Thank you #NetGalley #KristinKoval #CeladonBooks

A wonderfully written literary fiction that is very reminiscent Fredrik Backman’s writing style.

The story of how a family struggles through a murder while family secrets unfold that is written in a then and now timeline.

The story was wonderful with sadness, heartbreak, love and forgiveness. The imagery and character development were so beautifully written.

At the centre of this strong debut is a murder mystery. We know the who, but not the why. And while the 'why' is what ultimately moves the story forward, it primarily stays in the background.

Instead, this is a book about family and forgiveness. It explores the relationships between parents and their children, adult children and their parents, siblings, and married couples. It examines grief, shame, guilt, and loss while doing so, but mostly forgiveness. How do we ever forgive ourselves for our past wrongs? What can we do to atone? How do we forgive others that we love for the worst thing that they've ever done? Are they minimized to this action or can they ever be more?

Told in dual timelines with multiple POVs, spanning the continent and several decades, this was a strong and subtle character-driven debut novel by an author whose work I will definitely pick up again.

We all have something in our pasts that we regret, that has altered our lives and may never get an opportunity to make amends for. We meet characters in this story that have carried such burdens until one incident happens that opens all the old wounds. It all starts with a 911 call from a 13 year old who declares she just shot her brother.

The book revolves between two time periods for these characters from a small town . The past tells the story of a deadly ski accident that is never accurately narrated which haunts those involved: two teenagers who were crazy about each other and destined to be together. Time and circumstances dissolved that plan and their lives moved apart: she going back to the small town to marry and he becoming a successful attorney.

Now they are forced back together because he has the skills to represent the young lady, her daughter and certain regrets are revisited. Hiding all those secrets (and there are some real shockers) takes a lot of work and some are finally brought out and dealt with. Is there understanding after all these years, will forgiving allow them to go back to their normal lives, are their futures permanently changed?

The reader has to ask themselves WERE there regrets or were they able to move on successfully. It was an interesting page turner albeit sad.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for an early copy in exchange for a review.

While I believe this one is overhyped, it was pretty good. But it sort of left me lingering with questions. Why did she do it? That was never revealed.

This is the exact type of book that I am constantly hunting for: a family drama 🤝🏻 literary mystery. This is absolutely going to be a 2025 favorite for me. The intertwining of these two families was masterfully done, and I couldn’t get enough of any perspective or timeline. When I wasn’t reading it, I kept thinking of the characters like they were people I knew. I will be chasing the high of this book for a long time.

Synopsis: “When a shocking murder occurs in the home of Angie and David Sheehan, their lives are shattered. Desperate to defend their family, they turn to small-town lawyer Martine Dumont for help, but Martine isn’t just legal counsel — she’s also the mother of Angie’s first love, Julian, a now-successful New York City criminal defense attorney. As Julian and Angie confront their shared past and long-buried guilt from a tragic accident years ago, they must navigate their own culpability and the unresolved feelings between them.”

I started off really hooked into this book and captured by the premise.

13 year old Nora has been charged with murdering her older brother, a brother that had been diagnosed with a fatal disease.

The story is fast paced in the beginning… but then it drags and drags… and you end up with basically no answers at the end. Why did Nora kill her brother??? What happens to all the people in the story? There is no resolution.

By the end of the book, I was just slightly confused and unsatisfied.

I like the writing style.. but this one just didn’t do it for me.

This novel is marketed as a thriller, but I really wouldn’t call it that at all. To my mind, a thriller is fast paced with high stakes and at least a little danger. What this book actually is is a moderately paced family drama between two families across decades, with a bit of legal drama thrown in. But even though it’s not a thriller per se, it’s still a page turner for sure. My attention never waned as I read – I just wanted to keep going. The narrative weaves together two time periods decades apart, each rocked by tragedy, and follows how relationships are shaped or destroyed in the aftermath. It’s a really engrossing story. My only complaint is that there was a twist, a real bombshell dropped into one character’s life, which was heavily telegraphed enough that I saw it coming, and I’m still not sure if I, as the reader, was supposed to be surprised by it or not. I also didn’t love that there was a very central question which was not definitively answered to my satisfaction. But overall it was a really excellent read. 4.5 stars.

CW: child death, mental illness, terminal illness

I received an advance copy of this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love books that navigate through different points of view. In this book, Angie’s daughter faces a murder trial, and the family ends up hiring Angie’s former boyfriend to be the defendant. As the story goes we learn more about their lives in the past and then, and what might have happened that led to the murder itself.

This was a twisty drama that kept me on the edge of my seat for the entirety! The complexity of the relationships between the characters made for a un-put-downable read.

"Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done." (Bryan Stevenson) And we all need forgiveness - as a gift for ourselves and for others.
A shocking murder occurs in the home of Angie and David Sheehan. The couple asks lawyer Martine Dumont for help, and she relies heavily on her son Julian who has experience in child murder cases. But Angie and Julian used to be lovers, which adds a layer of complexity to the case. And the defendant isn't talking, which also complicates matters. As the story unfolds, each character must face the reality of the present and the past.
This book is a winding tale. I found myself wishing it would move a bit quicker. Only in the last half did I want to finish the story.
I like the addition of psychology. For example, this quote: "[I]t’s easier to be angry than it is to be sad. Some people eventually forget the difference.”
The ending is not pat. The characters do not all get a happy ending, and readers are left with some unanswered questions, which I like because it mirrors real life.
The addition of 9/11 New York City feels forced to me, and the book could have survived without that plot element.
"Penitence" is a fitting title for the book because each character must face themselves and others and decide -- will they forgive? And while I liked the story overall, I didn't ever feel strong or deep emotions for any of the characters, which disappointed me.

OH my goodness this was SOOOO good!!!

I cannot recommend this book enough and am so glad that I finally was able to get to it!!!

What a beautiful tale of love, loss, and grief.

Such a heartbreaking and powerful read!!!

5/5 stars

I was immediately gripped! Part mystery, contemporary fiction, and legal procedural this is a story of family, love, loss, mental health, and forgiveness. This story was told in dual timelines and added so much depth to the story!

Fans of books by Celeste Ng and Mad Honey will enjoy this one! I thought it was such a stunning debut!

Every one of these characters was messy and deeply flawed - I effing love stories about empathizing with people who do bad things. So good and so deeply human of a story. I was hooked!

Penitence
📆 Pub Date: 1/28/25

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Wow…I’m blown away that this is a debut!! This is a character driven family drama that is told in multiple POV and timelines.

The book begins with Angie and David’s 13 year old daughter, Nora (love when my name’s in a book😉), who killed her brother. The family has to connect with Angie’s first love for legal help.
I went into this blind and absolutely devoured it. 🎧I listened mainly to the audiobook which was amazing!! The narrator did such an amazing job making you really connect to the characters emotions.
It is slow paced as you slowly learn about Angie and Martine’s past. I had to know what was going to happen next and couldn’t stop listening! I was hopeful for a different ending but nonetheless this book was brilliant! I am excited to read what Kristin Koval writes next!!

Thank you @netgalley and @celadon for this ARC!!!

I was hooked from the beginning as Penitence offers an intriguing plot line. Angie and David's 13-year-old daughter shoots and kills her older brother at close range. Yikes! Needless to say, the family is thrown into a nightmare - a dead son and a daughter who is charged with murder. So why would a young teen commit such a heinous act? It turns out her brother, Nico, has juvenile Huntington’s disease, a horrible diagnosis with no cure. The strain on the entire family becomes evident, with mounting medical needs costing thousands of dollars and nothing much left to defend Nora. Enter a small-town lawyer who also happens to be the mother of Angie’s first love, Julian, who is a successful New York City attorney. When the storyline goes back to an earlier time to Angie and Julian's romance, I became bored with the pacing, and I wanted the story to go back to the present. The book has many thought-provoking themes: love, betrayal, trust, and forgiveness. The main characters were well-developed, and the book allowed me to think about this difficult situation differently. Overall, I enjoyed the book and thought it was an impressive debut.