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Start giftingPenitence
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Learn moreFor readers of Ann Patchett and Celeste Ng, Penitence is a poignant exploration of love and forgiveness. It’s a suspenseful, addictive page-turner filled with literary insight that compels readers to consider whether the worst thing we’ve ever done is all that defines us.
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.
Spanning decades, from the ski slopes of rural Colorado to the streets of pre-9/11 New York City and back again, Kristin Koval’s debut novel Penitence is an examination of the complexities of familial loyalty, the journey of redemption, and the profound experience of true forgiveness.
Kristin Koval is a former lawyer who always wanted to be a writer but initially wandered down other paths. She attended Phillips Exeter Academy, Georgetown University, and Columbia Law School. She lives in Boulder, Colorado and Park City, Utah with her husband, two sons, and two great danes.
Reviews
"Koval maintains the pacing of a thriller while going deep on themes of guilt, forgiveness, and the toll of keeping secrets. Readers won’t be able to look away."
—Publishers Weekly
“This story begins with a shocking act of violence but unfolds into a tender story of family, long-held secrets, and what ifs. Penitence is both a gripping page-turner and a loving exploration of what it really means to forgive.”
—Mary Beth Keane, bestselling author of Ask Again, Yes and The Half Moon
“Big-hearted, bold, and deftly plotted, Penitence tells a shocking tale of fratricide against the backdrop of two families linked by love, chance, and tragedy. I couldn’t put it down. Kristin Koval emerges as a remarkable new voice in fiction.”
—Adrienne Brodeur, bestselling author of Little Monsters and Wild Game
"Deeply humane, spiky, yearning, heartfelt, rendered in brisk and often stunning prose, Kristin Koval's Penitence poses so many rich and complicated questions about where and how guilt lives."
—Lynn Steger Strong, author of Flight
"Kristin Koval’s prose is crisp and readable and insightful... Penitence will grab you on its first page and hold you tight until the end.”
—Laura Spence-Ash, author of Beyond That, the Sea
“Penitence, riveting as a thriller, is a wise and profound novel. After a shocking tragedy unfolds in a small Colorado community, those intimately affected must grapple with their limitations and their buried histories. Kristin Koval relays their stories with great wisdom and compassion in this remarkable debut.”
—Claire Messud, bestselling author of The Emperor’s Children and This Strange Eventful History