A really interesting concept to explore, I hadn't heard of Sin Eaters, so had a fascinating time googling them! For the most part I enjoyed this story, although I personally felt the pacing lagged at times, and the ending felt rushed. I enjoyed the alternative Elizabethan London world and the dark elements of the plotting.
I enjoyed learning about the life of May, as she takes on the complex world of sin eating, with themes of control, loneliness, revenge and empowerment there's lots of positives about this book.

3.5
I thought this was a fascinating concept, I have heard of sin eaters before in other historical novels but not in as much detail. It's was very interesting to find out more about them, especially all the different kinds of foods they had to eat and for what sins. I also really enjoyed the snippits of other folklore and tales like versions of Hansel and Gretel and Blue Beard which added to the atmosphere. There's a note from the author that some characters just resemble historical figures since it's fiction but it's very obvious that it's just an alternative Elizabethan England with names changed and a couple fictional twists, I'm not really sure why the names needed to be changed, it's obvious who everyone is based on and it still would have been seen as fiction if the names were the same.
I enjoyed following the main character while she got used to her new circumstances, it was heart breaking at times to see how lonely being a sin eater made her life. I also liked that there wasn't a love subplot (well not really... maybe there was just a hint).
I think this could have benefited from being a bit longer since I found that the mystery side of the plot seemed to be slow moving yet solved too fast all at the end, I was worried for a moment that I didn't have a full arc, everything was happening so fast.
Overall it was an interesting read and if you have any interest in finding out more about sin eaters then give this a go.

Firstly, I enjoyed the story as it is the first story of this kind I have read. I think it was interesting, special, and there was definitely something special about it. However, at times, I felt like the story could be developed a bit more and could be more interesting as it was unfolding a bit slowly in the middle.

I liked the idea this was based on but this just missed the mark for me. The characters weren't there completely and i think it was in the first few chapters that this started as the main character, May, was a bit 2d for my liking and it seemed to come across as being a bit too [assive and like she would just let things happen to her rather than try to have any form of agency. There will be those who will like it but it just wasn't for me.

What a fabulous tale of the social outcasts that are sin-eaters in Elizabethan England. I knew of their existence but had never read a piece of fiction about them. Megan Campisi has completely captured the tone and feel of England during this period in history and her main character, May, is so well rounded and believable that I couldn't put this book down. I wait with baited breath for the next Megan Campisi book.

The Sin Eater takes place in a sort of alternative history, it is definitely a historical setting, modelled on the reign of Queen Elizabeth I but with all the names (Bethany instead of Elizabeth for example) changed, and some of the family dynamics twisted. It follows May who after being convicted of theft is sentenced to become a sin eater, a person who the dying recite their sins to and then eats the sins of their dead so that their sins become hers, unsurprisingly becoming a sin eater makes you a social pariah. We follow May as she starts in the role, and as she begins to uncover a mystery in the Royal Court where sins that were not recited are appearing atop coffins.

This is rather a slow-moving book but I loved how we followed May on her journey, slowly learning more about her life before she became a sin eater and also exploring the complex role a sin eater may have played in society. Sin eaters really did exist at the time - and well into the 20th century - but Campisi states at the start that she is going off little information and much of the story is hypothesised. However, I felt it was portrayed in a believable and interesting way. May becomes more or less a social pariah, unable to read or write, and now unable to speak, she is still headstrong and desperate to solve the mystery.

I also enjoyed the relationships portrayed in this book, and how it examined the idea of friendships of convenience. May clings on to anyone who comes into her life for an extended period of time because she feels so along, the older Sin Eater, her later lodgers. It somehow both was reassuring to know May wasn't completely alone but also demonstrated just how alone she really was that these were the closest she had to having friends. One criticism on the topic of relationships would be that I felt the storyline with the 'country mouse' to be somewhat unnecessary, it felt like it was there as the author felt she had to have some sort of attempt at romance, but for me, there wasn't enough point to justify having him as a character, I feel either have the romance subplot or don't mention it at all, but maybe that's just me.

The ending for me was what brought this down from a four to a three star. It felt like everything wrapped up a little too quickly for my liking, and all the answers suddenly came to May at once. Obviously this book isn't just a story about the mystery at the castle (hence why I've classed it as historical fiction rather than a mystery) but I would have liked that to have been more resolved. Or at least just more of something.

Also as an aside, this is tagged on Goodreads as a fantasy but I would say there are little - or arguably no - fantastical elements.

The Sin Eater by Megan Campisi is very definitely different. Set in a version of Elizabethan England that has dystopian hints of the Handmaid’s Tale, the story is told by May Owens, who is the Sin Eater.

Sin Eaters hear the sins of others and then eat foods associated with each different sin, they carry those sins with them to the grave and relieve the sinner of the fear of dying and being cast into some form of hell with Eve rather than going to their Maker. It is a cruel world where the burden of being the city’s Sin Eater and a social outcast is imposed on women by the mail judges as a way of exercising power and revenge.

May discovers a plot to kill the Queen, a mystery about her own parentage and eventually realises her own agency and independence.

After a slightly slow start The Sin Eater is a compelling read well worth persevering with. I think this is Campisi’s first novel, I hope she writes more.

I really enjoyed this book. It is historical fiction with an almost fantastical twist. We are following the story of May, a young girl who steals a loaf of bread and is (through a vindictive Recorder) forced to become her town’s ’Sin Eater’. A Sin Eater is a woman forced to hear the sins of the dying and ‘eat’ the relevant foods upon their death. They are reviled and feared by the rest of society.

I’d rate this 3.5 stars; I liked the concept of this book; it was a unique idea and Campisi pulled heavily from British history which I thought was cleverly done, although it did take some getting used to (i.e Bethany is Queen Elizabeth). The idea of having to confess your sins and have someone else ‘eat’ them on your behalf was fascinating.

Much is explored in this book and there’s a good mystery element flowing throughout. It reads less like a fiction story and almost more like a non-fiction version of May, the Sin Eater but I liked it. And I will definitely look for more work by Megan Campisi.

This book is easy to read, and I liked the mystery element with May (our Sin Eater) trying to solve the puzzle of what is happening to the Queen’s ladies along with discovering who she is without her mother and father.

I will include a review of this book in my YouTube monthly wrap up at the end of July (www.youtube.com/c/JessMcGlynn)

The Sin Eater by Megan Campisi is a book that defies the usual categories for novels, managing to blur the line between historical fiction, murder mystery, fantasy, folk tale, coming of age, and feminist writing. And it is this rich mix of genres that makes the story refreshingly different and such a satisfying read.
The book is set in an alternate Elizabethan world and based on the obscure practice of sin eating whereby a female sin-eater would consume a ritual meal in order to spiritually take on the sins of a deceased person. The food was believed to absorb the sins of the recently dead person, thus cleansing their soul. Sin-eaters, as a consequence, carried the sins of all people whose sins they had eaten and lived as outcasts on the fringes of society. Not surprisingly people tended not to volunteer for this job, and in Campisi's tale, the role is forced on young May Owens by a magistrate as an alternative to execution.
Aged just 14 and branded as a sin-eater, May is condemned to live the rest of her life as an outcast, to hear the confessions of the dying and to eat a prescribed range of symbolic foods at their funeral to ease their journey to heaven. She may never be hungry again, but neither will she be permitted to enjoy conversation, companionship, affection or love.
I thought the setting of a slightly alternate English Elizabethan world was very clever as it both unsettles you as a reader but also suggests that, because May is a young, uneducated, illiterate girl, this could be her confused interpretation of her world.
This is a feminist book and Campisi manages to convey her powerful message without being obvious or heavy-handed. May is a girl living in a brutal world of patriarchal cruelty, but although she is a victim of male oppression, May is a strong young woman who defies the life society has forced on her. By making her untouchable and condemning her to a life where she is almost invisible, May finds a source of strength and ultimately of power.
The Sin-Eater is a real page-turner, I only wish there were some more books from Campisi to feast on.

With thanks to NetGalley for a free pre-publication copy of this book in return for an honest review.

May Owen is caught stealing a loaf of bread. Her punishment is to become a Sin Eater. Her adventures take her into the court of Queen Bethany, a fictional Queen Elizabeth the first.

I really wanted to like the book and was looking forward to reading it. I knew nothing about Sin Eaters and anything to do with folklore and the Tudor court would have been the perfect read.

I found the story very interesting at first but the story became very repetitive and I found myself becoming very bored. I enjoyed the narrative from May again in the beginning but after a while I found her very irritating. I didn't enjoy how she gave characters names such as Mush face and Country Mouse and I was becoming totally lost who was who. There is also an uncomfortable scene with three dogs and poison which I found disturbing.

This is a book I know that we be hyped and enjoyed by many but for me it just did not work.

Thank you to the publisher via Netgalley for the chance to read and review the book.

I was first attracted to The Sin Eater because of the stunning cover and when I finished reading it, I was sad it had to end.

Fourteen-years old May Owens is caught stealing bread and sent to jail to await punishment. She is an orphan and has no one to speak up for her. Other girls come and go but still her sentence isn’t announced. Then one day it is announced she will become a sin eater.

Sin Eaters eat the sins of others so they can die with a clear conscience. She will face the Maker with their sins and in doing so May can secure her own place with the Maker.

“The sin eater walks among us. Unseen. Unheard…Sins of our flesh become sins of hers through the Eating, praise be.”

Sin eaters are pariahs in society, forced to live on the edges of town and are considered to be the lowest of the low.

They are not allowed to talk, touch or be looked at by another person. Her tongue is branded, and she has to wear a heavy collar with an ‘S’ on it to denote her title.

She is only allowed to talk when she goes to do a ‘recitation’ and to list the foods their family must gather for the ‘Eating.’

Not being able to talk is a particularly hard thing for May as she is a “little gabby goose”. This benefits the reader because May’s inner dialogue is rich in detail.

“I’m a sin eater, I say to the red embers. What does this mean?’

It means you’ll never again feel the press of a chest against yours in a hug.

It means you’ll never sit with Lee or Tom, giggling together, eating blackberries and watching the swallows dive…

You’ll never marry.

You’ll never bear a child.

You’ll never had a lover or even just a good friend.”

May has to go and live with the only other Sin eater in town and learns the trade through watching her.

They are called to the castle and stumble on a secret, a secret someone is killing to protect.

The Sin Eater was a book sumptuous in detail, in particular the descriptions of the various sins and their corresponding foods. The book begins with another sin eater about to perform an eating after May’s mother has died.

“Salt for pride. Mustard seeds for lies. Barley for curses. There are grapes too, laid red and bursting across the pinewood coffin – one grape split like a splinter through flesh. There’s crow’s meat stewed with plums and a homemade loaf, small and shaped like a bobbin. Why a loaf in such a shape? I think And why so small? There are other foods too, but not many. My mother had few sins.”

Aspects of the book, including the murders and some of the sins are amplified when you think that we are witnessing them through the eyes of a fourteen- year old girl.

It is set in a place called Angland during the rain of Queen Bethany, a figure who is described very much like Queen Elizabeth. Queen Bethany has divided the country on the issue of faith and has many who would like to see ‘The Virgin Queen’ fall. There are other historical figures who play a part in the book in some form. I liked this aspect of the book very much.

May Owens is a likeable character but also unique for being a strong female characters in an era where societal power was predominantly in the hands of men.

The Sin Eater was a mesmerising debut.

‘The Sin Eater’ by Megan Campisi was an interesting read. The concept was strange but not entirely unbelievable. The storyline however I found a little thin. The ending I felt led me to think there may be a sequel.

You'd think that the limits of historical fiction have been exhausted. After reading The Sin Eater by Megan Campisi, I can tell you there is still room for new ideas. 

May Owens loses everything when she is still young and in an act of desperation from hunger she steals a loaf of bread. With her sentence to become a Sin Eater, she even loses her voice. How can you speak for yourself when you are forbidden to do so? Very soon she realises that some of her disadvantages can be her allies. While still trying to find a way of understanding her new role in society, which brings both reverence and condemnation, she is thrown into the midst of a royal murder mystery. 


When I received this ARC for review, I was not sure what to expect. I only knew I loved historical fiction and I loved debut novels. The Sin Eater very quickly transported me into a speculative historical fiction setting of the Tudor reign, where religious and political differences sat firmly in the background of the lives of people who believed that their freedom could be fully achieved upon their death when sin eaters absorbed their sins. 


I really enjoyed The Sin Eater - a wonderful debut that blends speculative fiction with dystopian historical fiction. This is a poignant story of self-discovery after being stripped of one's own identity, a story of human connection against all odds, and finding a most unusual family of misfits. May might have hit rock bottom of her own existence but it never stopped her in getting stronger and more assured of who she was and what she could do with the limited resources she had. 


I'd recommend this book to all readers who like a good historical backbone to a story, which brings original ideas and characters that undergo personal journeys of self-metamorphosis in a well written book that will let readers devour pages to follow the story and will consume them at the same time with compelling fervour.

May Owens steals a loaf of bread and is arrested. As others are sentenced, she waits for her punishment – but is passed by and left in the cell. Others come, and go, and still she waits. Until one day her life changes forever…

I was so intrigued by the premise of this book. I knew nothing about sin eaters and diving into the book I felt immersed in this world, which runs at a slight parallel to our past. May is a great lead character – her thoughts are quick paced, and her experiences really made me feel for her. Her life isn’t easy, and as the book progresses, we see her take on a weight of responsibility that weighs heavily on her shoulders.

I really enjoyed the first half of the book, however the second half seemed to lack some detail and felt somewhat rushed. I would have loved to spend more time with May but felt the writing lacked the richness of the first part towards the end. I feel that May as a character is strong, and really look forward to following her in any sequels – hopefully we will learn more about her story in the future!

I delayed starting this book as I'm in the middle of a slow reading of Wolf Hall which is set in a similar time and place.  This is altogether a different kind of story.  This is a tale of a poor, seemingly powerless woman (as opposed to a tale of  a wealthy,influential man).

I was immediately draw into this alternative England during the reign of Queen Bethany (who seems remarkably like Elizabeth the first).   We see everything through the eyes of a teenage sin eater.

Sin eaters were outcasts, untouchable, even lepers avoid them, but at least they didn't starve.  Historical sin eaters were limited to Wales and the English counties on the Welsh border but this story imagines an England where the lives of royalty and those of a sin eater could intertwine.

Our protagonist May is forced into her role.   She  isn't allowed to speak, except during recitations, when the dying recite their sins but she has a surprisingly rich inner life.   A sin eater is virtually ignored by society except to avoid physical contact so she overhears much and hence most of the plot is revealed through dialogue between minor characters.

At the heart of this book is a mystery, and I feel that was the weakest point, there are several twists and turns with regard to this, but I didn't really care that much.  Luckily there were other elements fascinating enough to hold my interest to the end.

The only fully rounded character in this book was the first person protagonist May.  There were other characters in the book, but they never feel much more than puppets but this is not surprising.    I feel there may have been some lost opportunities as a few minor characters were starting to take shape then we never saw them again and the beggars and lepers who lived in May's house always seemed distant despite their physical closeness, this may have be intentional as May always feels herself to be apart from them.

This is very much a woman's book as no men in this reality were ever forced to be sin eaters, and only women who were already ostracised with no family to object.   But seen through May's eyes we see how vulnerable all women are, even the queen.
This is certainly not a world I would like to live in. It is a fascinating glimpse into the world of the medieval poor.   I don't feel it was a particularly memorable book but a worthy debut and I will be keeping a close eye out for more by this author.

This was interesting. I liked the alternative version of England and the mythology of the sin eater was well explained. It was a bit slow in the middle: there was a lot of main character inner voice saying 'oh but does this mean' 'what about' and at times that felt so clumsy it through me out of the character's head. But I'm glad I read it and would recommend it as an intriguing read.

I know that galleys are imperfect, but this one tested me to the utmost! Chapter one was intriguing, chapter two was half of one and half of two! Chapter three was a third of all chapters, chapter four was in quarters! I gave it up, then decided to request another copy, which arrived in perfect reading order. What an absolutely fantastic story, I’m so glad I persevered with it.
Set in a thinly disguised alternative Tudor style history, we meet 14 years old May Owens, who has been caught stealing and her punishment is to become a sin eater. She is padlocked into a metal collar, engraved with the letter S, and her tongue is tattooed with the same letter. Her job is to attend the dying on their deathbeds and hear their confessions of their sins. Each sin has a food allocated to it, and when May eats the food, she takes on the responsibility for these sins and carries them to her grave. She may not speak of these sins, and is made to live a life of silence, except when hearing these confessions. May also realises that she will also never go hungry again!!
May and another sin eater are called to the Royal palace to hear the confession of the Queen’s governess. When the list of food is presented, there is a fake food and sin added. The older sin eater refuses to eat the food and is arrested and taken to the Tower, May eats the extra sin, as represented by a deer heart, but she wants to know who ordered this extra food, and what message it is sending out. Queen Bethany is better known to us as Queen Elizabeth, and the previous Queen Maris, was Bloody Mary of history.
There is a great deal of fascinating research and gossip in this book. Any avid reader of this period of history will know the rumours that this book deals with. It all concerns The Virgin Queen, and there are other deaths at court of the ladies of the bedchamber, hidden letters and clues in tapestries, and you can use your knowledge of these times to put the real name to disguised characters. There is a real sense of betrayal and danger underlying this story, and the conclusion is unexpected.
I was fascinated by the concept of a sin eater, and the food chart at the beginning of this book was very helpful. What an unusual job, and May is a very determined young lady throughout this book. I rated this as a five star read. I will post reviews to Goodreads and others later.

Sentenced to the role of Sin Eater having been caught stealing bread, May Owens finds herself marked and silenced by her newfound role which requiresher to hear the death-bed confessions of those in their final hours.

Having never heard of the 'art' of sin-eating I was immediately curious to learn more about the historical tradition of a sineater consuming the sin's of others through a correlating menu of food items ('Salt for pride. Mustard seed for lies. Barley for curses.') so that the patient may go to their grave cleansed.

Unfortunately, for me, the promise of May Owens' early life, sentencing and predicament failed to develop into a captivating plot. Though the old sin eater is imprisoned and later put to death for treason, the tale appears destined to turn circles as chapter by chapter May consumes the foods and fruits that head up each one: Pig's Heart is followed by Pigeon Pie and Mutton Chop by Bitter greens.

Nevertheless, my thanks to Netgalley, the author and publisher for sharing an advanced copy with me in return for my honest opinion.

Rich and compelling historical novel that I read almost in one sitting- I loved it as an alternate take on religion in Elizabethan England and also as a very different sort of crime novel! Utterly absorbing.

This was an amazing fictional/historical novel, set in an alternate Elizabethan world, where people have to hide their old faith but it has been replaced by belief in "the maker". It was a really interesting take on how people in Tudor times might have experienced the changes from Catholicism to Protestantism, mixed with old fashioned folk beliefs. The protagonist is forced into becoming a sin eater, who hears confessions at the death bed, then eats specific food to take on that person's sin. She ends up shunned by society, and ends up living with beggars. However, her job means that she ends up embroiled in a mystery at court, where ladies in waiting for in mysterious circumstances, and their sin eating includes food to atone for killing a royal baby, even though they did not confess to this. It turns into a fascinating mystery, and reminded me of the historical novels of Jeanette Winterson. Fascinating and memorable.