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A review by corrie
Pennance by Clare Ashton
5.0
Pennance was Clare Ashton’s debut novel and okay, maybe it’s not as polished as her later works, it is still powerful enough to knock your socks off. Don’t expect a comfortable read though. Her main character Lucy is dealing with some serious issues in the aftermath of a very traumatic car accident that injured her and killed her partner Jake. A large part of the book is basically Lucy surviving, stuck in limbo, paralyzed with PTSD, survivor’s guilt and loneliness, stuck with the ghost of Jake in that filthy, cold cottage. It’s only after her new neighbor Karen arrives on the scene that Lucy’s life starts to get color again.
This was a re-read for me, this time with Book Club Buddie D. We were both sucked into a quagmire of angst, this intense bleakness that Ashton expertly doles out by the bucket load. You cannot get further removed from her rom-coms That Certain Something and Poppy Jenkins than this, but if you put your big girl pants on and stick with Lucy and Karen ‘till the end, it will be a most satisfying journey. Highly recommend.
f/f
Themes: suspended life, PTSD, everything is grey until Karen arrives, but oh that creepy child of hers.
5 stars
This was a re-read for me, this time with Book Club Buddie D. We were both sucked into a quagmire of angst, this intense bleakness that Ashton expertly doles out by the bucket load. You cannot get further removed from her rom-coms That Certain Something and Poppy Jenkins than this, but if you put your big girl pants on and stick with Lucy and Karen ‘till the end, it will be a most satisfying journey. Highly recommend.
f/f
Themes: suspended life, PTSD, everything is grey until Karen arrives, but oh that creepy child of hers.
5 stars