![]() ![]() Filtering this all through the journalist Carelli gives it an extra layer, this middle-aged man trying to understand teenage girls (and with his own motivations too). And it is packed full of little details that make it all come together (for example, one of the girls has a harmless blog where she’s obsessed with musicals and Glee, rather than an edgy blog about death or killers). It is truly a book for people who were too online in the 2000s or 2010s, and though footnotes in the book explain concepts from Tumblr and Livejournal (as if it was a middle-aged journalist explaining them), there’s definitely a sense of ‘if you know, you know’, which is also how the characters seem to feel at times. The narrative is so gripping, and Clark’s writing adapts to the registers that suit each part, that you feel fully engrossed in the story even as you question why it is being told like this.Ī really compelling element of Penance is the exploration of teenage girlhood and particularly elements of it that aren’t usually turned into novels: strange macabre online obsessions, petty fallings out and friendship changes turning into something much more charged, what it is like to be caught in various stereotypes, particularly in a small town. Carelli’s book is a mixture of his descriptions of interviews and research, snippets from podcasts and social media posts, and dramatised sections that describe events as if in a novel or similar, and these all weave together to create this vision of what a writer might want to say about something so sensational. It is entirely written in true crime framing, with the journalist’s book and a follow up interview, and this is very effective in getting across the complexity of true crime and what counts as entertainment, research, and factual content. The thing is, is he really telling the true story?Īfter Boy Parts, it is easy to anticipate something exciting from Eliza Clark, and Penance goes in a very different direction, but definitely lived up to my expectations. Carelli is publishing his book about this murder, the apparent definitive account based on staying in the town, interviewing those connected to the victim and perpetrators, and getting an insight into their lives and social media accounts. Nearly a decade ago, Crow-on-Sea was rocked by the murder of Joan Wilson in a beach chalet by three girls. ![]() Penance is a novel masquerading as a true crime book written by a disgraced journalist, exploring the murder of a sixteen year old by three other teenage girls in a run down seaside resort in North Yorkshire. ![]()
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