Penitence

Penitence (2025) is American author Kristin Koval’s first novel. Koval is a former attorney who left a law career to pursue writing full-time. Penitence interrogates the complexities of the juvenile justice system, public discourse surrounding gun control, and the role that media plays in shaping public opinion of high-profile crimes. It explores how guilt, grief, blame, and forgiveness affect the micro-world of the family. It follows attorneys Martine and Julian as they tackle a case in which a 13-year-old girl, Nora, fatally shoots her brother, Nico, with her father’s service pistol. Nora and Nico were fiercely bonded, and the crime is incomprehensible to the entire family, especially as the narrative never reveals Nora’s motive for doing so. 

Martine and Julian have a fraught relationship with Nora’s parents: Nora’s mother Angie and Julian were high school sweethearts, torn apart by a skiing accident in which Angie’s young sister, Diana, died. Angie’s mother, formerly one of Martine’s best friends, blamed Julian for the accident even though Angie was also supposed to be watching Diana. Angie’s husband resents Julian for reasons that become clearer as the narrative unfolds but seeks out his help defending Nora anyway. Julian is willing to take the case pro bono, and the family has little extra money. As the case winds through the flawed juvenile justice system, Koval explores themes of The Complex Nature of Guilt and Forgiveness, Bias and Dysfunction in the Juvenile Justice System, and the Media’s Impact on Public Opinion. 

This guide is based on the 2025 hardcover edition by Celadon. 

Content Warning: The source text and this guide feature depictions of child death, substance use, addiction, child sexual abuse, sexual assault, pregnancy termination, child abuse, mental illness, bullying, illness, death, and animal death. 

Plot Summary

The novel begins as 13-year-old Nora Sheehan sits in a holding cell after fatally shooting her 14-year-old brother, Nico. The two were closely bonded, and the crime is shocking not only to their family but also to their entire community. Nora’s family lives in Lodgepole, Colorado, a small hamlet that alternates between sleepy off-seasons and bustling ski and summer vacation seasons. Nora’s father, David, is a park ranger, and her mother, Angie, recently quit her job as an art teacher to become Nico’s caregiver: He was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease and needed the full-time support of one of his parents. Because Nico’s care has been so expensive, the family’s resources are stretched thin, and they cannot afford to pay a lawyer. David seeks the help of local attorney Martine Dumont, knowing she will likely take the case at a discounted rate. Martine has a history with Angie: Her son, Julian, was Angie’s high school sweetheart. The two broke up after the death of Angie’s sister, Diana. All three had been skiing, and Diana skied into a tree. Angie’s mother, Livia, blamed Julian, and the once-close families fractured. David hopes that because Martine once felt like a second mother to Angie, she will take the case.

Martine does agree to defend Nora but has to enlist the help of her son, Julian. She has never tried anyone accused of murder, and Julian is an experienced defense attorney. Angie is furious: She has no interest in spending time with Julian. David, however, knows that they will need all the help they can get: Nora shot her brother three times as he slept, and the district attorney (DA) wants to prosecute her as an adult. There is no established motive in the murder, and the media has already begun to sensationalize the tragedy. In the court of public opinion, Nora is already guilty. 

As Nora’s case unfolds, it becomes increasingly clear that the juvenile justice system is flawed. Nora struggles through a difficult incarceration, experiencing a mental health crisis that no one can quite diagnose and bullying from the other girls in the detention facility. The DA, who is seeking re-election on a tough-on-crime platform, wants to make an example of Nora. He is initially unwilling to strike a plea deal, and Nora is facing decades behind bars. As Julian and Martine navigate the case’s many ups and downs, Angie and David’s relationship breaks down: It is no secret that Angie favored Nico, and she struggles to forgive Nora even as David’s heart breaks to see his daughter in so much pain. Nora continues to refuse to discuss the shooting and claims not to remember it. 

As Nora, David, Julian, and Martine struggle with the case, the novel flashes back to Angie and Julian during their teens and twenties. On the day of Diana’s death, Angie had insisted the two smoke marijuana and had also consumed an entire flask of vodka. Just as the three were set to ski down the mountain, Angie began to vomit. Diana began skiing, and after a moment to ensure Angie was okay, Julian skied down after Diana. Julian didn’t enjoy marijuana, and he initially felt strange as he skied. Eventually, euphoria took over, and he failed to notice Diana just ahead, waiting. He skied into her, and the impact propelled her body into a tree. It was impossible to tell which impact killed Diana. No one else saw the accident, and when Angie arrived a few moments later, David did not admit to skiing into Diana. Angie didn’t want to admit that they were both high, so the two agreed to lie and say that they saw Diana ski into a tree. There was never a full investigation, and the ski patrol believed them, but Angie’s mother, Livia, was certain Julian had caused the accident. She and Martine forced the two to break up, and Martine sent Julian to her mother’s in New York to finish out the school year, his last before college. 

Julian and Angie stayed together secretly, however. They attended separate colleges but moved in together afterward: Julian was just starting a career as a defense attorney, and Angie snagged a job in a prestigious gallery in New York. Although initially deeply in love, their relationship buckled under the strain of Julian’s drinking and long hours at work. He used alcohol to manage the guilt he felt about Diana and was dedicated to the pro bono cases that he took, trying to help disadvantaged people navigate the biased justice system. Their relationship further deteriorated when Angie’s father became ill, and she began to travel back and forth between Colorado and New York. Each felt isolated from and ignored by the other, and Angie secretly began seeing David, a friend from high school, in Colorado. Angie’s father died just before the 9/11 attacks, and she returned to New York. She and Julian continued to struggle, and when David spent the entire day of the 9/11 attack in a bar, Angie resolved to leave him. She discovered she was pregnant just as she was about to move back to Colorado, so she told David that the baby, Nico, was his. She never told Julian. 

Back in the present day, the truth finally comes to light: David and Angie are not carriers for the gene that causes Huntington’s disease, but Julian is. David has always known this, having figured it out not long after marrying Angie. He chose to raise Nico as his own. But now that Julian is back in their lives, he reveals what he knows. Julian manipulates the DA into agreeing to a plea deal. Nora is sentenced to only 15 years in prison, much of which will be served in a juvenile detention facility near Angie and David’s. David moves out, and Angie opens a café and art studio in Lodgepole. Realizing how badly she’d hurt everyone around her, she looks at Nora differently. She can forgive her daughter, and the two embark on a new relationship. Martine retires from law, and Julian tells Angie that he no longer feels guilty for his role in Diana’s death. She was guilty of negligence, too, that day. He returns to his family and job in New York, finally able to leave his past with Angie and Diana behind.