A historical fantasy novel set in a world similar to sixteenth century Elizabethan england. May Owens is a struggling orphan who having been caught stealing some bread to eat is given the punishment of becoming a sin eater (a person who takes on the sins of the dying on their deathbed) for the rest of her life. Naturally garralous, May struggles to deal with the enforced silence and the loneliness that goes with the role. She takes up her new position with an older sin eater with whom, over time, she develops a bond. However, when the elder sin eater dies, May has to come to terms with who she has become and try and avenge the other woman's death and discover the secrets behind the intrigues as the royal castle.
The story is mainly a study of May's development as she gains insight into who she has become. The promises of vengeance and uncovering the secret intrigue are never really fulfilled, the mystery part of the story is really a minor part of the whole. The tone is gloomy and obviously death plays a big role throughout the story. Religious superstition and punishment are also strong themes. There is some relief from the misery with unexpected friendships and acts of kindness. However, with a slow pace the book doesn't really live up to the expectations outlined in the first few chapters of the book.

Did you know there were people who were sin eaters back in medieval times until as recent the early 20th century? Sin eaters were mainly poor people who were paid to eat bread and drink beer or wine over a dead body. The belief at the time was that they would take on the sins of the deceased. This is a true fact (I read up on it!) as I had never heard of them so it was intriguing to read a fictional book based on a sin eater.

This story which I would hazard a guess as being in the 16th century, involves a young, orphan girl called May who is caught stealing and her punishment is to become a sin eater. She becomes an apprentice to an experienced sin eater and is taught what foods to eat for each sin a dying person confesses to them. For example for the sin of thieving they have to eat roast pigeon or for murder, a pig’s heart. Whilst doing this she finds herself in the midst of murders within the royal castle and she tries to solve the mystery.

This book is a unique, historical fiction story with an element of fantasy mixed in with a murder mystery. All three of these are my favourite genres and I thought this was an enjoyable read and it was on course for a 4 star rating from me. I did however, feel really disappointed in the end. It was pretty much an anticlimax. Its such a shame as this was such an interesting topic and like nothing I had read before but I was left wanting a lot more.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me receive an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I had never come across the concept of sin-eating before, so looked it up after I had read the book. Megan Campisi takes the idea and puts it in to a fantasy historical setting, to weave a tale of murder and plot rivaling that of our own Elizabethans. She imaginatively re-names the Tudor royal family and members of their court, making their actions both recognizable and totally different. The gruesome descriptions of casual violence, filth, poverty, disease, fear and much more make this a rich, unique and fascinating tale. I loved it!

I really tried with this, coming back a few times, but I couldn’t work through the formatting issues, which caused lines to be repeated in the middle of other lines.

May Owens is more than she seems. She is a fourteen year old girl, imprisoned for stealing bread, and punished by given the lifelong sentence of Sin Eater, 'Sin Eater, people who cannot be touched or spoken to and whose job is to hear the final confessions of the dying while eating foods symbolizing their sins so their souls can be admitted to heaven.'
Rich and full of power, poverty, hunger, excessiveness, rumour and lies, this tale is a story of power and the women who find it.
A new type of empowering women's tale that will leave you darkly thrilled and contented. I highly recommend this.

This seemed like it was going to be a really good read however the format made it impossible to carry on past a few chapters. The text was jumbled and repetitive and took too long to decipher. I have however added this to my TBR list to purchase a copy once released.

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for this copy in exchange for an honest review .

I regret very much that I've been unable to persevere reading this novel because the text does not format correctly on my e-reader.
However, the first chapter and next few pages that I managed to decipher are enough for me to put this on my "want to read" list, once it is published.
With many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for giving it to me and apologies that I cannot fully review it.

The Sin Eater is a bleak and fascinating glimpse into Elizabethan England. May Owens in branded as a Sin Eater after stealing some bread, and is condemned to a life of shame and shadows. The Sin Eater fulfils a similar function to The Pardoner from Chaucer's time. May is a really interesting character to explore this time period with.

Thank you to Netgalley for this advanced reader's copy in return for my honest review. I'm a big fan of historical fiction and this book didn't disappoint. Treacherous and filled with treason. Before reading this book, I knew a little about the practice of sin eating but Megan Campisi really brought this intriguing practice to life.

May Owens steals some bread. Her crime is punished by making her a Sin Eater. Sin Eaters are shunned by society and marked. Their role is to hear the confessions of the dying. They eat ritual food to "consume" those sins to themselves. The person dying is cleansed and can go to heaven. Sin Eaters are only spoken to directly, don't touch others and do not speak other than ritual words. She is effectively apprenticed to an older sin eater. When that sin eater is taken to prison, is tortured and dies May is left in a difficult position.

I found this an interesting story idea. There is a darkness that stays through this book and works well enough. The book follows May's job and dilemma. Her life has a number of "lows" and not an awful lot of "highs". I liked her character quite a lot. Other characters were rather more variable and some were simply bit parts. The atmosphere of a time past when there were servants who were below consideration was well done.

In its way this is a fairly simple story however it does have depths too. May trying to discover who she really is and what she should do I really liked. Whilst mine is a proof copy there is a line I liked and will share. At one point May says
"Because I can't be cursed. I am a curse."
This felt like a turning point to me and changed May's outlook.

The book can be quite colourful at times. An example would be the foods to be eaten for various sins. While I did enjoy reading this I did find it rather slow and almost laboured in the early stages. Around halfway through it really did pick up quite a bit and certainly kept me reading. I think my slight reservation is that the story never quite lived up to my expectations. However that may well be because my expectations were unreasonable. Enjoyable certainly as well as original but...

Unfortunately this digital copy was unreadable. It jumped all over the place, repeated bits (and not as a literary technique!) and had the author’s name at regular intervals. Shame, it looked like it was going to be a good read.

The Sin Eater by Megan Campisi
Publisher: Pan Macmillan, Mantle
Genre: General Fiction (Adult), Historical Fiction
Publish Date: 23 July 2020

Rating: 4/5

To start with I was completely seduced by the book cover. It's so beautiful!!!!! I need a hardback of this book to sit prettily in my bookcase which will also give my father an opportunity to complain that I'm running out of livable space in my house...but books need roofs over their heads too.

This book is a historical fiction that centers around the concept of a sin eater, which were active from the 1600s (arguably earliest recording) until the last known sin eater who died in 1906. A sin-eater would perform a ritual by eating food set near or on the body which would have absorbed the deceased sins. Thus the deceased would be cleansed of sins and the sin eater's soul would be burdened by it through transfer. This is a fascinating part of history and folklore which was why I was excited to read it.

Set in the Elizabethan era and featuring the queen herself and her court (though their names are changed) we find recently orphaned May Owens is arrested for stealing. She and other prisoners are pulled up in front of the recorder (judge) who is determining their fate and May gets a rare punishment. She is to become a sin eater. May is branded and collared so all can know what she is and she makes her way to the only other sin-eater in the vicinity. There May learns the rules of being a sin eater mainly silence and what foods equal what sins. They are called to the palace, one of the queens ladies has passed and a sinful food the lady did not confess lies upon her coffin. The elder sin eater won't eat it and is tortured and killed for not doing her duty. May is now alone and is the only sin eater left. What was the unconfessed sin?

Each chapter in the book is titled by a food ie. A sin which I felt is a clever and juicy way to organize this. Campisi, creates vivid characters that are enjoyable and I really liked the undesirables who find a home with May. Their descriptions are shocking and create a sense of fear then pity which then evolves to loveable. The story of the elder sin-eater is heartbreaking, I won't go into details but I really felt for her. The only problem I had with the book was the author's choice to locate the book at Queen Elizabeth I court and keep every detail about the Queen and courtiers the same but give them different names. I found this irritating and I don't think it was necessary. Especially as the book appears to retell Elizabeth and courtiers' historical stories from the sin eaters' point of view (with creative license).

With in the book, we come face to face with interesting questions. Being a sin eater means you are a social pariah, no one will acknowledge you unless you are needed. This can be a lonely and horrible existence but within this existence, May found freedom and was able to do things she could not have before. But it is a double-edged sword, what is freedom? We also come to discover the meaning of a sin in itself. May only eats the foods of the sins which are confessed but the confessions come from the person itself and how they view their sins are biased. As May herself says:

Don't I know by now that folk see their sins in the way they choose? There's always a reason as to why selfishness is not really selfish and crimes are honest and waiting safely by while somefolk else is killed is really the more courageous choice.

Its interesting food for thought.

Overall, I did love this book and would highly recommend it to all, I'm just slightly annoyed names where changed.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an E-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I looked forward to reading this but because of the formatting was virtually impossible to make sense of it. Im giving a middle 3 stars in the hope that at some point I can access another copy

I understand that formatting issues with ARC's shouldn't affect reviews, however the formatting issues in this instance render this story completely nonsensical and unreadable!

I'm still interested in the story and will check it out when it's actually released, but unfortunately can't give an accurate review for now. I feel terrible, but it's unreasonable to expect readers to rate something that can barely be read and to make a judgement about an authors writing when it doesn't make any sense.

This doesn't affect my feelings towards the author in anyway.

Thank you to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for an early copy of The Sin Eater.

The Sin Eater had such an interesting premise and I was really looking forward to seeing what Campisi would do with it but unfortunately this book really did not hit the mark for me.

The story is based around our main charater, May, who becomes a Sin Eater after she was caught stealing a loaf of bread. From there we discover what life was like for Sin Eaters (which was an actual punishment / role people had until quite recently) and the court intrigue surrounding the Queen. The story is based in a time very similar to that of Elizabethan England with many characters resembling those that would have been at court (Queen Bethany - Queen Elizabeth, Queen Maris - Queen Mary, etc.).

Sadly the premise is where the joy of this book left for me, it took a lot of effort to get through this and took me far longer than it typically does to read a book of this length. I would be interested to see what Campisi writes in the future but sadly this one wasn't for me.

2.5/5

This book is not one I would normally read but I have to say that I really enjoyed it. I have never heard of Sin Eaters before and had to Google it to see if they ever actually existed - and they did and it was all very interesting. I wasn't really looking forward to reading this book but I found it to be an easy read and very entertaining and I thoroughly enjoyed it - recommended.

Unfortunately I had some issues with the ebook formatting of this book, which made reading it a bit tricky. However, the good news is that the book was captivating enough that I persevered!

The Sin Eater is set in an alternate Elizabethan England, with Queen Bethany on the throne. The main character Meg Owens, is living in relative poverty and is sentenced to live as a Sin Eater after committing a minor crime.

The life of a Sin Eater is hard. They are universally reviled and not permitted to speak unless they are attending the "Recitations" of a dying person, where they are given the sins of the dying person and agree to "eat" their sins for them. Certain foods are allocated for the types of sin. The Sin Eater takes on the sins so that the deceased is guaranteed entry to heaven, which is bad news for the Sin Eater, as they are weighed down both metaphorically and physically by the food they eat and the sins they take on as their own.

Meg has to attend the death beds of 2 ladies at the court of Queen Bethany, and realises that they are being blamed for a murder they did not commit, by someone who also seems to wish her ill. Meg decides to investigate this, despite not being able to speak, and puts herself in danger to find out the truth of the murder, and the identity of the true murderer.

I found Meg to be a fascinating character, she doesn't just accept her fate as a Sin Eater and chooses to take the more difficult path. She clearly has a strong sense of justice and wants to clear the names of those who she believes have been unjustly accused. The writer also conveys the sense of isolation and lonliness that Meg suffers as a Sin Eater, and the ongoing inner monologue that Meg has with herself demonstrates how desperate she is for conversation and company.

I really enjoyed the book, and being slightly obsessed with Tudor history, found this alternate version really interesting.

One thing that some readers may find tricky is that Meg appears traumatised by her spell in prison and her prison experiences are repeated throughout the book in random inserts, in between sentences, which interrupt the flow of the narrative. It was worth getting used to though.

It’s unfair to compare this to The Handmaid’s Tale or similar great works because this is completely its own thing. A dazzling, visionary, dark and twisting novel that rewards patience with addictive and horrifying reveals. It is thematically deep and complex, following a mystery type trajectory but accomplishing so much more. Stunning work. Highly recommend.

I enjoyed this book.

I had never heard of the concept of Sin Eaters before reading the book so there was clearly an educational element to this historical fiction novel set in the time similar to that of Queen Elizabeth I of England. The story is narrated by a young orphan girl, May Owens, who is forced by poverty to steal and is made into a sin eater as punishment.

The novel describes her apprenticeship to an older sin eater who takes her under her wing. Under her tutelage the pair start a series of visits to the royal palace to hear the dyings' sins and eat the foods prescribed. As the tale unfolds it develops more into a whodunnit as May struggles to understand the intrigue going on among the Queen's courtiers.

I enjoyed the intrigue part of the novel and I also enjoyed the arcane words used.

To begin, I’d like to thank Pan Macmillan for sending me an ARC of this book, and to NetGalley for facilitating. And a huge thank you to Megan Campisi for a unique experience!

No spoilers as usual in this review.

Oh wow. What a book this is... I have never read anything quite like it, the history of sin eating is disturbing and the way this was written was absolutely brilliant!

I felt that the Mary/Elizabeth, Catholic/Protestant mirrors within the book really helped with placing where in time we were, and helped make the story feel more familiar even though this was a brand new story.

I had heard of “sin eating” before but never felt the need to explore what that entailed and I have found it fascinating to learn about it alongside being thoroughly entertained by May’s narrative throughout.

There are very few “main characters” within the book but there doesn’t need to be. Everything is told from May’s (unique) perspective and other characters - although pivotal to the storyline - are of little consequence emotionally when compared to the main character.

This was completely up my street and had me hooked from only a couple of pages in. There wasn’t a single part that I found myself losing interest and having to actively persevere in reading.

I would definitely recommend this as One to Read in 2020.