Penance

Penance is a novel by Eliza Clark, written in the form of a true crime account. On a beach in a run-down seaside town on the Yorkshire coast, sixteen-year-old Joan Wilson is set on fire by three other schoolgirls. Nearly ten years after the murder, journalist Alec Z. Carelli has put together what he presents as the definitive account of the crime. He draws on hours of interviews with witnesses and family members, careful historical research and, most notably, correspondence with the killers themselves. The result is a portrait of lives shaken by tragedy and a town thrown into turmoil. Yet the book keeps asking how much of what it tells is actually true. The novel is a dark and disturbing look at gender, class and power. It also raises uncomfortable questions about the media and our appetite for true crime, and about the darker sides of human nature.