A Penance for Crows

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.

Author: Shannon Morgan
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation
Published: 07/28/2026
Pages: 336
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.01lbs
Size: 8.21h x 5.41w x 1.01d
ISBN: 9781496757982

About the Author
Shannon Morgan is the author of atmospheric modern gothic novels, including In the Lonely Hours and the Goodreads Choice Award-finalist Her Little Flowers. She has had a nomadic past, involving, but not limited to, nearly being shot in Kashmir, playing a marathon ten-hour game of backgammon on the side of a road in Turkey, getting horribly sea-sick off the coast of Madagascar and milking a camel in the Sahara Desert. She now lives with her husband and sons in Wiltshire, England, and can be found online at shannonmorganauthor.com or on Twitter as @morgan_shan.