It's taken me a little while to write this one but it isn't necessarily a book I've forgotten. I'm not sure quite what I expected with this book either but it wasn't quite what I'd envisaged. The premise was brilliant: individuals, specifically women as I understand it, who are forced to absorb the sins of the dying by eating the associated food symbolising those sins. This in turn, unburdens the dying and allows them to by forgiven whilst the sin eater will be relegated to hell. Set in the 16th century, we meet May: a 14-year-old orphan who has stollen a loaf of bread and is ultimately punished by being made to become a sin eater.

The imagery that Campisi conjures up is exactly what you'd expert for the era: filth, disease, poverty and class boundaries. Whilst May did have presence, it took me a while to warm to her and understand her character. Some of the turns of phrase made it difficult to develop a reading rhythm. We did start to see more of the relationships that May forms, which I enjoyed and wanted more of. There was also a scandal and a murder mystery intertwined that certainly picked up the pace toward the end of the book.

It was a good read, albeit a little arduous at times with some detail that I wasn't necessarily interested in. But I think I was particularly enamoured with the idea of what the book was going to be. I can't say the delivery fell short per se, it was more of just an 'Oh.'. This book was unique: the story was original and it didn't remind me of anything else I'd read. So for that reason, I'm going to rate it an overall 4 stars but in terms of my own personal enjoyment, it was probably more of a 3.5.

Set in Elizabethan England, we meet teenage May Owens as she is rounded up by prison guards to be hanged. Even her feisty spirit won't save her it seems, until her fate changes and she is charged with being a Sin Eater.
Sin Eaters are pariahs, with branded tongues and metal collars professing their identities. They are called upon when folk are on their deathbed, for the sins of the dying to be confessed. Sins are converted to specific foods, and the Sin Eater consumes the food thereby consuming the sin and absolving the dying of it.
Her fate seems set in stone, but when she is called to hear the sins of palace staff, May stumbles across a conspiracy - who is placing deer hearts for child killing on the coffins of the recently deceased, when May, sworn to a life of silence, knows that sin was not recited? And why?
Along the way, May grows up, grows into her new identity and job and realises that there can be room in her life for love, for friendship and for self knowledge and growth.
I enjoyed this debut novel, but I think not as much as if I had read in one or two settings - the writing lends itself to total immersion. The character of May was well realised, but most others were quite one dimensional. Overall I think this is worth a read and I will look for the author's future works.

The Sin Eater by Megan Campisi is a fictional story based on true historic events – like Sin Eaters. Set in Elizabethan England with certain changes. The Queen is called Bethany. She follows the new faith. Her sister Queen before her was Queen Maris and followed the old faith. Their father had seven wives. Queen Bethany has many suitors but she marries none – she is The Virgin Queen.

Our main character May is left alone and penniless when her father dies. Starving and desperate, she finally resorts to stealing a loaf of bread. But she is caught by the law-keepers! She sits in prison for quite a while. When she is bought to stand before the Magistrate. Here it is decided that rather than a sentence dancing at the end of a rope, she will be made a Sin Eater.

Before May has time to fully realise what has happened, the Magistrate has the iron collar padlocked around her neck and her tongue branded with an ‘S’ for Sin Eater. Now everyone will know her for who she is. Forbidden from speaking anything other than the formal words she must use at a recitation or eating, and with no-one able to look at her now as to look at her or hear her speak is worse than a witches curse, a Sin Eaters life is incredibly lonely. All May has for company is the older Sin Eater. But of course, neither of them speak. May names the older Death Eater Ruth in her head.

When the heart of a deer is at an eating when no death of a royal infant was recited, ‘Ruth’ refuses to eat. She is arrested. The younger Death Eater is starving and afraid, so she eats.

Another death and another unrecited deer heart. And another.

The Death Eater decides she must learn who the real murderer is and who the victim was. For Ruth’s sake.

This was a really exciting read. It’s fast-paced and emotive. I found myself reading later and later into the night to find how it would end. I quite liked the whisper of the very ending. Like the quiet after a storm. I really enjoyed the correlation with real history, and the changes to names from real people to the characters in the fictional story amused me quite a bit.

I would say that this book is more story-based than character-based. However, the characters are well developed. The author just seems to understand that just because she knows every intimacy of each character, does not mean the reader needs to know. I’m a big fan of ‘if it doesn’t move the story forward, cut it’, and it seems this author is too. There are no parts of the story that drag and I was completely enraptured from the first page, with one exception:

I had never come across the concept of Sin Eaters before. I love history. So a few pages in, I had to stop and do a lot of Googling, and I must say that this does seem like one of the most disturbing jobs in history. It’s not lost on me that Sin Eaters were always women either!

If I had to change one thing about this book I would say it’s the slight romantic element with the Country Mouse. It’s very brief and fleeting. But I’d have liked it reduced even more. Perhaps as just a passing thought, for May at least.

This was an interesting idea that could have gone a bit further. May is a young girl recently orphaned,caught stealing bread she is sentenced to become a Sin Eater. She hears the sins of dying people and eats appropriate foods to take their sins upon herself instead. She has no choice. No one is ever allowed to speak to her or look at her again. She is a curse to everyone just as much as she is cursed. However when the Queen's ladies start dying in mysterious circumstances and someone lies about the sins they recited May is the only person who can attempt to uncover the truth but who can she tell when she cannot speak?

Really interesting concept and the alternative version of the Tudor court with Queen Bethany works quite well. If anything I would have liked more Sin Eater history rather than murder mystery. May is a frustrating narrator as she muddles through things but it's well worth reading

I really wanted to love this book, it's got a beautiful cover, the premise sounded excellent and overall it just sounded phenomenal.

However, it was VERY slow. The writing style was not engaging for me at all, it felt very much like 'Once upon a river'.

I liked how descriptive it was, but there just wasn't enough action for me, I felt like a LOT of pages could have been cut out and it would have made it a lot more interesting for me.

Definitely fine for super fans of Historical Gothic Fiction though

Amy is condemned to penury after the death of her father and, after stealing some bread, is condemned to be a sin eater, consuming people's sins in the form of various foods depending on the severity of the sin. Set in a barely disguised Elizabethan England, the virgin queen is on the throne. A series of deaths at the palace reveals the precariousness of her rule and it seems clear that there is a plot against the queen.

Amy is an outcast, forbidden to speak except during recitations and spurned by all God-fearing people. Initially dismayed by her predicament, Amy learns to take advantage of her unique position and investigates the deaths which she recognises as poisonings.

A novel take on the historical murder mystery. After a slow start, events pick up in pace and the book becomes a real page turner. Plotting is tight and convincing and Amy is an interesting and engaging narrator. The conclusion is satisfying although the murderer does make it rather easy for Amy and the Queen's men.

Well worth reading.

Sometimes when you start a book, you know from the first page that you are going to love it. I had this feeling with The Sin Eater.

Although Megan Campisi’s book is a fictional tale, Sin Eaters existed in the UK until roughly a century ago. I had never heard of this before and it made my inner historian curious in much the same way as Stacey Halls’s The Familiars made me about the Pendle witches. The life of a Sin Eater must have been an unbearably sad existence, witnessing the absolute worst in people without any of the kindness. It is easy to see how, for May who thrives on her interactions with her community, this would seem the cruellest punishment imaginable.

The Royal family tree at the start of the book made it clear in my mind that the events were taking place in a fantasised version of Tudor England and my current obsession with the Tudors added to my enjoyment of this book. Added to this link to our own history, the clever way that well known nursery rhymes and fairy tales are tweaked to the reality of the book makes this fictional world feel incredibly real and possible.

The compendium of sins and corresponding foods included in the book makes for fascinating reading. It’s funny because even seeing the food list, I expected it to be a symbolic part of a ritual. It never occurred to me that the Sin Eater would actually have to eat everything and grow hugely fat. At a time when a large number of people would be fighting just to put scraps of food on their table it must have felt a very strange experience, and even more isolating than the enforced silence.

On top of the fact that the very existence lived by a Sin Eater is fascinating you have the added intrigue of the mysteries of the castle – who is poisoning people and adding the deer’s heart to their eating? What are they covering up? This mystery is drawn out enticingly right to the very end of the book, and whilst I would have enjoyed a book purely about the life of a Sin Eater, this added an extra dimension to hold my interest even more firmly. I loved how it is the very fact that May is uneducated and has to rely on what she sees that leads to her solving the mystery. The very thing that used to annoy people most about her personality becomes the most important part of her, and I found this to be very touching.

If you are a fan of Bridget Collins or Stacey Halls, I would say that this is definitely a book for you.

2.5

Sad to say that this was kind of a disappointment... i was anticipating this release and for some reason i expected it to give me that uniqueness factor that search for in books, but unfortunately it didn't even come close to that. Frankly the book was quite boring, not much happened overall and the little that happened took place in the last third of the book, which is not ideal. I think much could've been done with this concept but it was just a basic "what controversial things did the royals get up to this time" type of story with a tab bit more into it, aka the sin eater girl. The fact that we follow a sin eaters POV was interesting, though it turned out not as entertaining as expected. I did appreciate though the old language bits incorporated into the speech and the descriptions of how common people used to live (which was quite disgusting honestly) and the few discussions on belief and religion. Overall a big WHOMP.

Fascinating read. I’ve never read anything quite like this before.

Megan Campisi’s novel was so immersive, it transported me to the dirty streets of the Elizabethan era. Once I finished The Sun Eater, I spent hours in a Wiki hole researching sin eaters and other dark histories I knew little about.

Thank you NetGalley and Pan McMillian for a eArc copy in exchange for an honest review.

4/5 Stars

'The Sin Eater' is an immersive tale set in a fantastical Elizabethan era. I thoroughly enjoyed this book with it's rich setting and unusual cast of characters and I didn't want it to end. I love that there's a pinch of history mixed in with the imaginative details. A wonderful read.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is an enjoyable tale of a young woman's empowerment, set in a thinly disguised alternative Elizabethan age.

I did not know it, but sin eaters were apparently a real thing until relatively recently - defined by Wikipedia as 'a person who consumes a ritual meal in order to spiritually take on the sins of a deceased person. The food was believed to absorb the sins of a recently dead person, thus absolving the soul of the person. Sin-eaters, as a consequence, carried the sins of all people whose sins they had eaten.'

A destitute orphan by the age of 14, May Owens is arrested for stealing a loaf of bread, and her punishment is to be made a sin eater, destined to be shunned by decent society and to be silent except for the ritual words around confessions and deaths. In a superstitious, illiterate society, the sin eater was seen as contaminated by a growing burden of the sins of others, destined to join the arch-sinner Eve in this version of hell. However, this confers a level of invisibility which May first finds debilitating, but eventually turns to her advantage.

Once the premise of the burden of sin and the shock of becoming a pariah overnight are dealt with, the novel settles into an enjoyable whodunit. When she is first made a sin eater, May moves in with another practitioner and, in spite of no words ever passing between them, she develops an affection and attachment to this unlikely mother-figure. May and her mentor are called to hear the confession of a terminally ill lady in the Virgin Queen's household, who duly passes away of an ailment closely resembling the flux. At her funeral there appears a food that does not correlate to any of her confessed sins - a deer's heart, the food representing murder of a royal child. the older sin eater refuses to eat it and is arrested, leaving May to decide that discretion is the better part of valour. When she dies under torture she leaves May with a terrible burden of guilt and a desire to avenge her death. When May is called to a second confession in the palace, to another Queen's lady dying of a remarkably similar cause, and is faced with a second deer's heart for a crime that was not confessed, she realises that she had noticed blue lips at both confessions, which she knows are a sign of poisoning.

The plot details from here on in are convoluted, and gripping. But of more interest is May's gradual awakening from a paralysing terror at the thought of a life as an outcast and an eternity in Hell, to a sense of empowerment and an appreciation of the freedoms that her seemingly rock bottom state afford her.

The novel is pure escapism, but well done and with a contemporary feminist vibe about it. There are similarities in its conceptualisation with Bridget Collins' highly praised The Binding (not to mention the cover art of the two books), but this is no bad thing. Good fun all round.

The Sin Eater started off with such an interesting premise and had me hooked right from the beginning - I raced through the entire thing in one sitting. Whilst a dark and not always comfortable read, it was a fascinating one; I loved its fantasy Elizabethan-inspired setting, I loved picking out the historical parallels, and the unexpected twist of finding myself suddenly in a detective novel.

As a character May, the young sin eater, has such a great voice, and the book's focus on food and death lends it a really visceral quality. I felt like I was there, with her. I think this is a book I'll be returning to.

Elizabethian Era. A 14 year old girl is sentenced for stealing bread. As a punishment she becomes a sin eater. While she's trying to accept her fate she discovers some awful crime at the royal court.
In this historical fiction novel Megan Campisi creates a bustling but dark and dangerous atmosphere which brings the 16th century London to life.
Really liked the basic idea and the main character May. Sadly the author often got lost in side issues so the story would dragged on at times. Even so the book was entertaining enough and is still worth a read.

This wasn't really fantasy, more alternative historical set during the reign of Elizabeth I, where all the historical figures have been renamed and various embellishments added, mainly associated with religion and the Sin Eater role. Since I enjoy both genres this suited me just fine.

What didn't particularly suit me was a formatting glitch which must have corrupted my advanced electronic reading copy. It confused me at first as there was disjointed repetition of a scene from the beginning detailing the arrest that resulted in the role of Sin Eater being forced upon the main character May. I wasn't sure at first whether this was intentional as it highlighted how traumatic it was and I thought maybe showed the effects of PTSD. However, the error continued and at some points I had to keep skipping two repeated lines to read a third line of current events. I felt like I was reading in code, in retrospect I should have just given up and purchased a hardback copy but I can be pretty stubborn at times..! I also must have been really enjoying it. If there's ever a sequel written and I fancy a re-read I'll definitely purchase a new paperback copy!

(ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley)

A Sin Eater's duty is a necessary evil: she hears the final private confessions of the dying, eats their sins as a funeral rite, and so guarantees their souls access to heaven. It is always women who eat sins - since it was Eve who first ate the Forbidden Fruit - and every town has at least one, not that they are publicly acknowledged. Stained by the sins they are obliged to consume, the Sin Eater is shunned and silenced, doomed to live in exile at the edge of town.

Recently orphaned May Owens is just fourteen, and has never considered what it might be like to be so ostracized; she's more concerned with where her next meal is coming from. When she's arrested for stealing a loaf of bread, however, and subsequently sentenced to become a Sin Eater, finding food is suddenly the last of her worries.

It's a devastating sentence, but May's new invisibility opens new doors. And when first one then two of the Queen's courtiers suddenly grow ill, May hears their deathbed confessions - and begins to investigate a terrible rumour that is only whispered of amid palace corridors.

You don't get a chance to know the current sin eater in this book except through the moments that are expressed via May. You can tell that she's been alone a long time and is focused on training May to be a good sin eater. I can't imagine though the toil it takes to listen to a person's sin, eat their sin away, and be silent forever afterwards. We find out at one point that certain food represents a person forcing themselves on a child.

The writing at times does turn your stomach. This book turned me off of eggs, leeks, salt, and a whole variety of things for a while. The writing at times is lyrical though, but there's always a gut punch coming along.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for an advance copy in return for a fair and honest review

It wasn't possible to read this due to the poor formatting. The first chapter was fine and I was intrigued, but then after that there were part-sentences and repeated sentences all over. I checked further on in the book and it seemed to be the same so I had to bail.

I read The Sin Eater by Megan Campisi back in May and I CANNOT STOP THINKING ABOUT IT! It really got me, and I can't put my finger on why. Maybe it was the historical setting which hooked me, or all the foodie details where every sin has an associated food, or the idea of atoning for sin (my mum grew up Catholic so the guilt is ingrained!), but it was a masterpiece, a brilliant tale of a woman's identity and power, with a dollop of treason and treachery. I loved it and didn't want it to end... please let there be a sequel!! Thank you @netgalley for the #arc, I'll definitely be recommending this to everyone, and would be a top pick for 2020.

Orphan May is forced to become a Sin Eater, hearing dying confessions of sins and eating the foods designated to absorb the sins of the dead. When extra items appear on the coffins of the Queen’s ladies, which imply a royal murder, May realised that there is treachery and treason in the Royal household. Can she identify the culprits without putting herself in danger?

The Sin Eater is set in an alternative medieval England - there’s a king with 6 wives, and 2 daughters, Bloody Maris and the Virgin Queen Bethany, suitors and intrigue galore. It wasn’t the story I was expecting at the start, which concentrated on the Sin Eater’s duties and life in the town. But then, when the first Royal death occurs, everything hots up and the action moves faster.

The final denouncement came at a bit of a rush, but overall it was a story that kept me engrossed and unsure of the outcome until the end.

When she was fourteen May stole a loaf of bread. As punishment she was branded & fitted with a collar proclaiming her a sin eater. In this time (which is slightly altered Elizabethan England) a sin eater heard the sins of the dying. These sins were translated into certain foods & when consumed by the sin eater meant that the dying would be absolved. She was destined to be shunned, untouchable & only spoken to when it concerned the business of dying. At first she accompanies another sin eater but when that one is arrested & tortured to death May has to continue alone. She know that there is something far wrong about the elder sin eater's treatment & resolves to solve the mystery.

This took a long while to get into as it was slow going at first & adjusting to the slightly altered history but eventually I really engaged with May & the variety of unusual characters. It's well worth sticking with. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

For a story that had such a potential to become so much more, I feel a bit let down when I didn’t fall in love with it. The history of this concept is so fascinating and a bit creepy but religion doesn’t flourish without a little bit of scary concepts. In any case, because of this book, I read up a bit on this weird tradition because I frankly hadn’t heard about it before.

The story revolves around a fourteen year old girl who steals a bread and then is forced into becoming a sin eater. May is then forced to go to dying people’s houses and sit at their beds and listen to their sins and secrets. She’s not quite happy with this turn of events as before she used to be fairly free, just in need of some familial love and a bit understanding. After, she’s left with a collar on her neck and S branded on her tongue to show the society exactly what she is.

Her struggles are real and I could feel for her and I think that’s what saved the story a lot. May herself is a great character, not a happy one or even one that would be tolerable for long but that’s what makes her a great character. She has innocence and no guile to guide her tongue, which partly brings her to her fate, if I am being honest. She’s not completely at an age where she understands how things work in life either, it made for a frustrating time for me but it was a good way to handle her age and her possible autism? I am still not sure if it was autism, so take my words with a grain of salt.

The story turns when May and another Sin Eater are requested to hear the sins of governess of the Virgin Queen, there are some revelations that might bring chaos because those confessions might turn the politics into a complete and utter mess if they were ever revealed. I loved that this book was not opaque about who would generally be the Sin Eaters and why. The societal, class and gender norms and rules of the times really made this into a good read. May had her struggles, her life was bleak and she was scared and you could see that in every page. I genuinely enjoyed this book but I felt like I was only reading half of it at times, there was so much room left for worldbuilding, I wish there was more of the Royal Court that we could see. So, because of these reasons, I left it at 3.25 stars. I am very grateful for the advanced reading copy though! So thanks to Pan MacMillan and NetGalley.