Join the folks from Juno Books down at The Mowbray as they host Eliza Clark in conversation with Holly Williams to celebrate the launch of the paperback of her second novel Penance.
Named as one of Granta's Best Young British Novelists in 2023 Newcastle-born Eliza Clark is a major new voice in British fiction. Her show-stopping second novel invites us to question our voyeuristic love for true crime and explores the secret inner worlds of teenage girls. Set in the northern seaside town of Crow-on-sea, the novel follows the true-crime journalist Alec Carelli in his investigation of the torture and murder of 16-year-old Joan Wilson at the hands of her three schoolmates – Dolly, Violet and Angelica – on the eve of the Brexit vote. Initially attracting little media interest, three years later the "true-crime industrial complex" descends into Crow spotting an opportunity to make entertainment out of the tragedy. Tracing the backstory of the murder within a still-grieving community, Carelli explores the relationships between the girls from school popularity politics and serial killer fandom to ritualised occult games and fantasy worlds.
Penance has garnered significant praise and was selected as a Guardian Best Book of the Year and Dazed Best Novel of 2023.
'Compulsive' – Sunday Times