What would cause 13 year old Nora to shoot and kill her 14 year old brother? And how do their parents deal with what is essentially the loss of both of their children? Set in a small Colorado ski town, as the novel follows the aftermath - arrest, incarceration, legal processes – it reveals the complex relationships of the characters involved with Nora’s case. A local general practice attorney, long estranged friend of Nora’s difficult grandmother takes the case then brings in her son, a successful New York criminal defense lawyer who has a past relationship with Nora’s mother and was a classmate of Nora’s father. This well written story touches on the challenges of the juvenile justice system, moral and ethical dilemmas, guilt, love, family loyalty, how the past informs the present and, ultimately, forgiveness. It’s a great read.

A magnificent debut novel that has you thinking of the many complex characters long after you’ve read the final page. This is a beautifully written dual timeline family drama perfect for book club discussions.

I look forward to future books by this very talented author.

This riveting debut explores the many facets of wrong doing in people’s lives from a hurtful lie to murder. The epigraph is from Just Mercy, “each of us is more than the worst thing we have ever done”. That is not intended as a get out of jail free card but as a way to live with yourself, moving forward. A teenage daughter kills her brother and the parents bring back in their lives two people that were blamed and ostracized from the family for past deeds to defend their daughter. Kristin Koval does an incredible job flushing out these characters with honesty and compassion. The book is a bit of a mystery because she reveals these relationships layer by layer. She’s a talent to watch! I strongly recommend this book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Celadon for the advanced readers copy.

Angie and David Sheahan’s family are devastated by the shocking murder of their young son in their home. They enlist the services of Martine Dumont, a lawyer in the small town where they live, to defend their thirteen-year-old daughter, who is accused of murder. Angie and Martine have a special bond; she is the mother of Angie’s former lover, Julian, a successful criminal defense attorney in New York City. Her unrequited feelings for Julian complicate Angie’s struggles to cope with her young daughter's case when Julian tries to help with her defense.
This is a story that reaches back to the days before 9/11 when relationships between the family members were scarred by the guilt that remained from a tragic accident that had occurred. Would the family be able to pull together in support of a young girl about to be sentenced to a lengthy prison term?

Penitence is literary, suspenseful, socially relevant, and emotionally on-point. This is Kristin Koval’s debut, and I will be looking forward to reading her next novel.

The novel opens with a short epigraph that tells the reader, “Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.” We then drop directly into the prologue where 13-year-old Nora is being held in a jail cell for the murder of her brother. Later we learn that this isn’t the only tragedy to befall this family. There was also a skiing accident that happened years before when Nora’s mother was a teenager.

These events profoundly affect two families that are woven together through love as well as the repercussions of these events. Penitence is a story of pain and heartbreak but also of forgiveness and redemption. Part of the power of this novel is that the story is told from multiple points of view. The characters are fully drawn and profoundly human. They have great strengths, deep flaws, and are all scarred by trauma. We see not only the actions of the characters, but also their feelings and motivations. We see their love, their pain, and their desire for connection. Through this, we see how their fates are intertwined and how their love for each other offers the potential for redemption. This novel takes on painful events and hard topics, but it does so in a way that left me feeling hopeful that each of us matters. No matter our failings, there is always the possibility of connection and love.

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for the ARC. The opinions in this review are solely my own.

This debut literary thriller is quite the page-turner. Fratricide occurs early in the book, bringing back together two families torn apart by a tragic accident, resulting in something of a Romeo and Juliet story; that story ends in multiple betrayals that affect multiple lives. But this story is so much more than that, encompassing issues of mental illness, addiction, childhood and elderly health, and a disturbing juvenile penal system, all while being bolstered by intricately-crafted characters and their intertwined familial relationships. Keep an eye on Koval!

In Penitence, Kristin Koval weaves a suspenseful and heartfelt story that pulls readers into the fractured lives of Angie and David Sheehan after a murder disrupts the peace of their home. Desperate for justice and fearing for their family, the couple reaches out to Martine Dumont, a small-town lawyer who brings an unexpected link to Angie’s past. Martine’s son, Julian—a prominent New York defense attorney and Angie’s first love—steps in to aid the Sheehans, forcing Angie and Julian to confront both the pain of their past and lingering emotions that have haunted them.

As Angie and Julian dig into the tangled history that binds them, Koval explores themes of guilt, redemption, and the lingering effects of buried secrets. The tension of the unresolved tragedy they share is as gripping as the mystery itself, keeping readers invested in their struggle to balance old wounds with the demands of the present. Angie’s journey toward self-acceptance, combined with Julian’s grappling with his own role in their shared history, makes for a story that is as emotionally complex as it is suspenseful.

Penitence offers readers an engaging blend of suspense and romance, capturing the complexities of family ties and past mistakes that never truly disappear. For those who love stories of reconciliation wrapped in a gripping mystery, this book delivers both intrigue and a deeply personal journey that resonates long after the last page.

Penitence is a debut novel by lawyer, turned author Kristin Koval. It is a well-paced, harrowing story of fratricide in a small ski town in Colorado. Koval manages several interwoven plots with aplomb and toward the end manages to add a few plausible twists that keep the narrative interesting. The book is a harsh critique of the criminal justice system in the United States – especially where juvenile offenders are concerned. More importantly it is an examination of culpability, guilt and innocence as well as forgiveness.

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Press for the eARC in exchange for this review.

This is a well written deep book about complicated family relationships and complicated relationships between two family. It is more a family drama than a mystery and the ending leaves us to draw our own conclusions. How does a family heal with their 13 yr old daughter kills her brother for no apparent reason. Lot of ethical issues are explored and overall it ended up being a moving read. 4.5

Ugghhh this book tugs at your heartstrings, makes you question what is right and what is wrong, leaves you wondering about every choice made. And then slams you in the gut.
The main story appears to be “the murder”, and it is right up there. But told in different timelines, we learn about the choices that led up to it.
A family drama, examining parental relationships, first relationships, and everything in between.
Do we tell lies? Or are they simply omissions?

If your daughter kills your son/her brother can you forgive your daughter? How can you grieve the loss of your son but still help your daughter in her defense? Can you ever truly forgive?

Heavy questions present themselves in this debut author's book, Penitence. I really loved the thoughtfulness the author gives to the characters in this book. The book goes back and forth a couple of decades from when Angie, the mother, is growing up in small town Colorado and is in love for over a decade with Julian. A tragedy occurs when they are seniors in high school and Julian moves to NY. Decades later they are reunited when Julian is now a criminal lawyer and is asked to help represent Angie's daughter, Nora, who killed her brother, Nico. Her brother suffered from Huntington's disease (a horrific disease, I might add, especially when diagnosed as a juvenile). Why did Nora kill Nico? Mercy killing? Upset by how her mother treated both of them?

Ultimately this book is about families and the lies we keep inside and the forgiveness we all seek, despite our flaws.

Thank you to NetGalley, Celadon Publishers and Kristin Koval for an advanced copy in exchange for my opinion. I look forward to her next novel as this one really makes you think.

An emotional moving story ,a young girl accused of killing her brother her Irish twin shooting him to death.As she sits in a jail cell we meet her family and others involved in her world.There are so many layers so much history so many connections history in this small town.This is at times a harrowing story so beautifully written I was totally drawn in from the first page of this debut novel.Inlook forward to reading more by Kristin Koval.#netgalley#celadonbooks

This well-written book was engaging and paced well. I wasn't expecting a twist at the end, but there was one! I struggled a bit with Angie's character...she felt so different between who she was with Julian and who she was with David. Much transpired in the middle, but she seemed fundamentally different, which didn't seem believable to me. Still enjoyed.

Prepare yourself for an emotional journey that will leave you profoundly affected! The lives of Angie and David are shattered when their teenage daughter commits a tragic act against their son. However, the situation is far more complex than it initially appears. This gripping narrative unravels layers of guilt as hidden truths come to light. I found myself engrossed, unable to put the book down, and it moved me to tears. Every character in this story is impacted, and you will be too!

Thank you to Net Galley and Celadon books for the ARC to read and review!

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC of Penitence by Kristin Koval
This was an awesome novel, it made you think and feel and wonder. The story goes from past to present as the story unfolds and we learn more about the characters and their history. I didn't see the twist coming until we were supposed to. Awesome characters, well described and realistic, the settings are well described also. Lots of emotions and difficult topics in this novel, the author handles it well.
I have not read this author's books before, but I'll certainly add her other books to my list.

I enjoyed reading this debut novel. So much history with the characters, so many what ifs... I felt drawn to all the characters, flawed and all. Would recommend. The relationships in the novel were so intertwined, siblings, lovers, parents, but at the end I felt like they were all woven together and I left feeling these characters are going to be OK and that the best way out is always through.

Kristin Koval's debut novel truly left an impression on me with its storytelling approach and characters possessing conflicting and psychologically complex inner worlds. Upon finishing this story, the question arises: when we choose to act in a certain way, is the outcome better than if we had chosen differently? There is no absolute right or wrong; we must only pay the price for our decisions. It's truly a thought-provoking work. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing the DRC in exchange for my honest review.

Kristin Koval’s debut novel Penitence ended up being a much more complex story than I expected. The novel begins when 13 year old Nora fatally shoots her 14 year old brother Nico. From this prologue, I expected a focus on figuring out the whys of this crime, but the book took a different turn. Rather than focus on why Nora killed Nico, who had recently been diagnosed with juvenile Huntington’s disease and was destined for an early death regardless, the novel focused more on the aftermath of the event in how it affected Nora, her parents Angie and David, and how she was handled within the legal system. Simultaneously, the novel explores another story and timeline, when Angie dated Julian, who becomes Nora’s criminal defense attorney, as a teenager, and how the two of them were involved in an accident which tore their families apart.

Both of these timelines were compelling and over time it became clear that all of the characters were flawed. They were like real people rather than perfect book characters, and everybody made mistakes, some worse than other’s. Over the course of the novel, the idea of forgiveness was explored in how someone can forgive themselves and atone for a bad decision, and how they can forgive other people for theirs. This book is emotional, relatable, and will make you feel angry at times. You will truly grow to both love and hate these characters due to their complexity. The pacing of the two timelines kept me invested in both sides of the story and the writing was enjoyable and easy to read. I felt satisfaction at the end of the book, even though I didn’t get exactly the ending I expected, and thought it was well worth the read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

After reading the blurb, I was expecting a twist to catch us unawares in the last third of the novel. I had even come up with my own (erroneous!) assumptions about what that twist would be.

As the story bounces back and forth in time, we become aware that some catastrophic event tore the inseparable high school sweethearts, Angie and Julian, apart. No spoilers here but I could not figure out why Julian felt so strongly that - but for Angie's decision to buy a joint and share it while they were skiing with Angie's younger sister, - the ensuing accident would never have happened. So much guilt - and secrecy and cover-ups! I felt compelled to read on despite my confusion over Julian's insistence that Angie's purchase of marijuana was the fatal act that completely altered their lives. (Trust me on this: that section of the novel did not ring true for me. These two mixed up, self-absorbed teens made a bad decision and will have to pay for it for the rest of their lives.

Intrigued already?

Fast forward 15 years and Julian is drawn back into Angie's life - as the defense lawyer for her young daughter.

Nora has confessed to killing her brother, but either due to shock or remorse, she is unable to remember the events of the shooting.

Angie was horrified by her daughter's actions. . Nico, her beloved firstborn son, was suffering from Huntington's disease and the prognosis was not good - but to have Nora take matters into her own hands and halt Nico's physical and mental suffering and his eventual death was something she could not bring herself to forgive.

Angie is portrayed as a very flawed, self-focused woman. She is unable to visit her daughter in prison for quite some time, and when she does manage to overcome her revulsion and anger, she still harbours anger toward Nora. You do get a "twist" of sorts toward the last third of the novel, but I had suspected something of the sort almost from the very beginning.

In the end, we find that Angie is just as guilty as Nora of a few unforgivable actions and choices.

Portions of this book were very well written and I always wanted to come back to this story and find out what happened next, but the ending left me feeling that Angie may have evolved, but she did so at the cost of so many lives. If Angie had given Nora equal attention growing up, maybe Nora would not have taken the fatal actions that she did? My impression of Nora is that she was very much on the periphery of her mother's attention and therefore would not have felt able to discuss and defuse some of the despairing feelings that lead her to take her brother's life. So many avoidable consequences!

I'm rating this one 3.9 out of 5, rounded up to 4 because the writing and characterization were very good, given that this is the author's first novel. Her exposure of the deplorable conditions that young offenders endure left me suitably irate. I would be very interested to read this author's next novel.

My thank to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. This might just be a top read of the year for me! This debut has stunning writing and it’s a story I won’t forget.

Penitence is a family drama that weaves together years of secrets between two families in a ski town in Colorado. I loved having the perspective of every character throughout the story and felt this really contributed to each one’s growth and arc. Every character has their own battle with forgiveness and it’s really moving to see how everyone navigates this differently, especially given the gravity of the topics and shocking realities faced throughout the story.

I can’t recommend it enough! One of those stories that makes you feel for the characters, and will continue to think about it for a long time.

A perfect wintertime read, I’m so excited for its release in February! Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!