Pennance [Kindle Edition]

This book is a gift out of nowhere, and as a debut, it's just that more special. I'm loathe to make comparisons, but Clare Ashton has done with this novel what Sarah Waters failed to do in The Little Stranger. Clare Ashton creates a true ghost story here. A ghost story that pulls the reader straight into the main character's break with reality and keeps you there throughout the entire reading of the book. It was spine tingling and spooky, yet hopeful, with a complete and satisfying finish. This eerie love story combines the angst and despair of tragedy, the goosebumps of suspenseful mystery, and the tender sexual stirrings of the damaged psyche. A sensual, scary, and sweet journey that I strongly recommend you take.

Pennance by Clare Ashton is another stunning debut entry in the self-publishing world of fiction. The tone and emotional atmosphere reminded me very much of Josephine Hart's Damage, a book that mesmerized me years ago and provided a standard against which I tend to judge many literary fiction books since.

Ashton's book is true literary fiction in the best sense--a brilliant love story/mystery, beautifully written. It's the gripping story of Lucy, a woman who retreats into a self-induced shell of isolation, paranoia and self-destructive mental fantasies that tend only to support her guilt, shame and regret at not having been able to save her boyfriend after they were involved in a violent auto crash. The problem is even deeper: She didn't love him. Not the way he or she would have wanted.

At the height of Lucy's social withdrawal, a new neighbor moves down the shady lane from Lucy's cabin. Lucy can't believe it. Her privacy will be interrupted and her waning social skills will be tested. Sure enough, all her fears of discovery, all the ennui of depression and all the hyper-vigilance of her anxieties fill her waking hours. Yet she finds herself steadily drawn to the nearly divorced neighbor, Karen, after a chance meeting while Lucy is out running off her stress at being forced to live...at all.

Their friendship blooms amidst the weeds of their mutual pasts. Karen has two children, an unfriendly husband from whom she is separated and a connection to Lucy's life that our protagonist would never have imagined. But as they get to know one another, and their relationship moves from romantic attraction to uncertain outcome, something else in Lucy's life is suddenly amiss: Someone is trying to kill her....

I cannot reveal the outcome of the growing romantic and sexual attraction between Lucy and Karen, nor the impediments that are placed in their way at every turn, but I will say this is one hell of a love story!

The book reads simultaneously like a tightly wound mystery and like a very modern gothic romance. The words, the feelings, and the action--all of it revealing a level of talent and skill astoundingly high for a debut novel--is a hypnotic aphrodisiac that you won't soon forget. The tension is palpable, Lucy's angst measureable, Karen's charm compellingly real and the story telling magnificent. I could not put this book down.

In every moment of the story, the measure of pain and passion in Lucy's reality begins to dawn upon the reader in well-modulated increments of revelation and mystery. The outcome is all the more astonishing for the dashed hopes and spent spirit that Ashton imparts in Lucy's view of the world after she learns who it is that has been trying, first, to frighten her and then, to kill her.

Do yourself a favor: Buy this fabulous novel, Pennance, support this artist Clare Ashton, and let's hope another book is on the way in the very near future. Read more ›

The author evokes Lucy's grief following the death of her partner well, including the destruction of her self esteem and the giving into depression to such a degree that she feels herself haunted. The landscape and background are well described and you become very aware of this part of Cornwall. There is some beautiful writing in this book.

I felt, however, that the book didn't rise above the descriptive and that the plot was almost an afterthought. We know that Jake's Mother does not want to settle with the people who caused her son's death and that she wants to establish a memorial to him but Lucy never really interacts with these characters and we do not get to understand them. Apart from Ben, the only characters we get to know well are Karen and her two children. This means that when the mystery of who is trying to harm Lucy arises the culprit is only too obvious (to be fair, I do not think that this is intended to be a mystery novel).

In the end, this is a story of a woman to whom things happen rather than a story about her and what she does. Lucy is rarely proactive. She drifts into love again as if by accident, she is late for important meetings and does not get involved in what is happening about the money she may be due and even when someone tries to kill her (and has also tried to kill someone else) she does nothing about it. Finally, she gets her happy ending only because someone else takes action.

I kept waiting for something to happen in this book but it did not and I kept waiting for Lucy to start reacting more to things but she did not. The beautiful landscape and carefully created mood were not enough for this to be a book with which I could fully engage.

what a brilliant book. you wont want to put it down. her writing is incredible and nothing is predicitable which we usually find in lesbian fiction books. it was a breathe of fresh air, totally differnt to most books i'd read and a bargain at that price.

Just read Pennance. Fantastic book, so well written. Had to read it in a oner, could not put it down. Felt totally taken in with the thoughts and feelings of the characters. I will be watching out for more books from this author. Very impressed and moved by the story, will think about it for a long time to come. Talented writer and can't wait for more!
Previous reviews spot on, with how good this book is.

Loved the atmosphere in this debut from Claire Ashton and found myself drawn into
not only into the lives of the characters but the whole landscape and buildings described in
this book. It made me want to immediately pack up and go to live in some deserted
Devon cliff top cottage. The story was extremely compelling and had a wonderful underlying
tension that draws you in and keeps you hooked to the end. Thoroughly recommended.