A Penance for Crows

Last week I read Shannon Morgan‘s 2025 book, Grimdark, and I was excited to get into her brand new book, A Penance for Crows. This Gothic thriller takes place on a remote Irish island, Beanna Dubh, where 62-year-old Grizela has always been treated like an outsider. Not only is she Scottish, but she also spends her time conjuring macabre paintings at odds with the island community’s religious views. When a series of strange accidents leave several islanders dead, it’s hard to ignore the demonic sigils appearing around town at the same time. Who or what is causing these deaths? And do the victims deserve their fate?

What I Liked:

• Older protagonist. It’s not often I read a book where the main character is over sixty years old, but such is the case in A Penance for Crows. Grizela has spent 45 years running from her past, and though she’s still an outsider after all these years, she also has gained a certain wisdom. I liked seeing her relationship with a group of four teenaged girls and how she’s someone they can turn to for guidance.
• Unreliable narrator. As much as I like Grizela, she does lend the book a dreamlike point of view. She has a history of mental health issues, including depression and suicidal ideation. Now that so many of her neighbors are winding up dead, Grizela is fighting another mental break. I appreciated the mental health representation here, as well as the way Grizela’s perspective can be disorienting.
• Grappling with abuse. Grizela was a victim of extreme bullying when she was younger, and she sees the way some in Beanna Dubh are abusive now: a father who beats his children; a brother whose pranks have left his sister mentally unwell; a mother whose religious zeal is wielded like a weapon. There is a lot of trauma here, and yet the inhabitants of this island community continuously turn a blind eye. Domestic matters sort themselves out, right? Right?!
• Dangers of religion. Beanna Dubh is very old-fashioned in terms of religious beliefs and the hold the church has over its inhabitants. If religion is supposed to be a salvation and a protector, why doesn’t it stop the clearly documented abuse in town? What role do the priests have in protecting—or harming—those in the community?

Audiobook:

Siobhan Waring narrates A Penance for Crows, and her voice perfectly fits the foreboding, Gothic pace of the novel. She handles the Scottish and Irish accents well, and I enjoyed how she portrays Grizela in particular. Her narration made for an immersive read.

Final Thoughts

A Penance for Crows is a book that will sink its claws into you. It has Gothic atmosphere, from isolation to deep-buried secrets, as well as a town full of darkness and a penchant for avoiding hard topics. I appreciated the contrast of Grizela’s artwork and the demonic sigils versus the religious veil the islanders hide behind. The symbolism of the crows was the cherry on top. Fans of the thrillers and seeking your own justice will enjoy this novel.

Special thanks to Kensington, Tantor Media, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Get the Book

You can buy A Penance for Crows here – it’s available as a paperback, ebook, and audiobook.

A Penance for Crows by Shannon Morgan
Audiobook Narrator	Siobhan Waring
Audience	Adult
Genre	Mystery; Gothic Thriller
Setting	Ireland
Number of Pages	336
Format I Read	Audiobook & Ebook (NetGalley ARCs)
Original Publication Date	July 28, 2026
Publisher	Kensington

Official Summary

An unnerving, hypnotic, modern gothic thriller set on a remote Irish island, where an artist is caught between deadly secrets, ancient superstition, and echoing madness. For fans of Simone St. James, Eve Chase, and Jennifer McMahon.

Off the southern tip of the Beara Peninsula lies Beanna Dubh, an island of savage beauty, its jagged cliffs lashed by Atlantic winds and infested by thousands of crows. Untouched by 21st-century advances, the islanders live under the strict rule of the church, while clinging to old superstitions of the crows as harbingers of disaster. To this desolate, unforgiving place Grizela Urquhart fled, seeking sanctuary from brutal bullying in her native Glasgow.  

40 years on, Grizela still remains an outsider—the eccentric painter viewed with distrust and barely tolerated. The feelings are mutual, for she has discovered there are as many secrets on Beanna Dubh as there are crows. 

When she stumbles upon the body of a young priest with a diabolical symbol drawn on his chest, the crows darken the skies, and Grizela is plagued by demonic whispers only she can hear. The islanders’ suspicions fall on her, but she fears the answers lie in her tortured past.  

As mass hysteria grows, Grizela scrambles to protect the innocent—a quartet of young girls she has taken under her wing. When she uncovers dark truths behind the girls’ mysterious midnight gatherings, her grip on reality unravels and she is faced with an impossible choice: do the unthinkable to protect the girls as the whispers urge, or come out of hiding to face the sins of her past.