Book Review
Penitence by Kristin Koval
Publisher: Celadon Books
Publication Date: January 28, 2025
Format: Hardcover - 320 pages
Audiobook - 12 Hours 13 Minutes
Kindle - 5.7 MB / 316 pages
Nook - 5 MB / 320 pages
ISBN: 978-1250342997
ASIN (Audiobook): B0D35YWD2X
ASIN (Kindle): B0D1PB5V1M
BNID: 978-1250343000
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
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Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book from the author / publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. I also purchased a hardcover copy from my monthly subscription to Book Of The Month.
Book Description:
For 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 each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.
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 post-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.
My Book Review:
In the debut novel Penitence, author Kristin Koval weaves an emotionally complex story of tragedy, forgiveness, and redemption.
Two families are linked together from a series of tragic events, and they are forced to confront their shared pasts and guilt, seeking forgiveness and redemption.
Angie DeLuca and Julian Dumont were high school sweethearts in Lodgepole, Colorado. When a tragic accident occurs on the ski slopes, their families decide to separate them. They carry the guilt of the accident with them through the years, and the secret that they were still together away from their families while living in New York City. Dealing with their shared past along with a series of issues: Julian's drinking and his preoccupation with his law career, eventually drove Angie to leave Julian and return home in September 2001. Fast-forward to October 2016, another tragic event brings Angie and Julian back together, not only to deal with the tragic murder in Angie's family, but also to deal with unresolved issues from their shared past: long-held secrets, guilt, and betrayal, in order to seek forgiveness and redemption.
In Penitence, author Kristin Koval weaves a gut-wrenching tale that engages the readers to follow along as Angie and Julian's story unfolds with a strong emotional pull. There is plenty of drama, long-held secrets, trials and tribulations, life challenges, and unresolved family issues that they are forced to face. The story is told in the alternating past and present timeline, and the reader is taken on an emotional roller coaster ride and will experience the full gamut of emotions as both tragic events unfold, and how it effects Angie, Julian, and their families. You can't help but feel for them as the trauma of their past resurfaces, and how they must resolve it with a hope for true forgiveness and redemption.
Penitence is a compelling story of forgiveness, especially when people deal with loss, grief, guilt, and long-held secrets.
RATING: 5 STARS
About The Author
