In this novel we follow May in an alternative Elizabethan England. May at the age of 14 is sentenced to the life of a Sin Eater, for the crime of stealing bread. Sin Eaters are the Unseen and Unheard, a locked collar and branded tongue the signs of her work. May is used to a hard life, with much deprivation and goes into her new life fearful of the fact she will be 'eating the sins' of the dying.

This novel is so different from anything I have read. At the face of it, it's a historical novel - albeit an alternative England - Angland - but a mystery is also the centre of this novel, and one which May sets out to solve. The writing does evoke a dark, gothic feel which makes for a captivating and engaging read. I was compelled to read on, even when it got tense for parts during the last part of the novel. The novel does have a quick pace, however, and whilst this does help to build a sense of tension, I do think some of the novel would have benefited from being expanded and explored further. There was one relationship which did evoke some feelings, but other relationships in the novel seemed to happen quite quickly for me. I would like to have learned more about the role of the Sin Eater, a bit more exploration or elaborating on feelings. That being said, I did also love reading this!

I thoroughly enjoyed this, and I will look forward to reading more from this author.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very well written historical fiction with an interesting concept. It's my favorite genre and it was a delight to read.
Dark, and beautifully written.

Thanks a lot to NG and the publisher for this copy.

Unusual 'parallel historical' story of a young girl sentenced to live as a Sin Eater for the rest of her life. No-one can speak to her, look at her directly, or touch her ever again in the 'Eucharistian' world. She can only listen to the dying's confession of their sins, list the foods which will absolve them of these sins and then eat the foods after death in front of witnesses. She then takes on the sins herself to judgement day. Acute loneliness and injustice lie at the heart of Meg Owen's character. She lives at the time of Queen Bethany (a parallel Queen Elizabeth I), wearing a locked-on metal collar that clearly labels her to others.

Along with all this trauma, is a murder mystery which Meg is determined to solve, feeling she owes this to the elder Sin eater who intially guides her. This takes her dangerously close to the throne and her own death. Entertaining and unusual - I liked the world that was created; the world definitely had a 'period' feel and darkness about it, the language used was appropriate to the era and setting.

Sin Eater is a dark, historical novel set in an alternative 16th century England. We follow May who is punished for stealing a loaf of bread by becoming a sin eater, one who eats symbolic foods representing another’s sins. By doing this, the dying are relieved of their sins and the sin eater takes this burden on.

This is a very character focused story, looking at the life of May and the interactions she has with all the different people she comes into contact with. There are discussions of class, disability and the prejudices linked to these things. I loved May as a character, she was resilient and determined and had such a strong arc throughout the novel.

While I loved the synopsis, I did feel like I wanted more. The atmosphere of the book is rich and gritty but the world didn’t get deep enough for me to be fully immersed. Campisi’s writing was gorgeous and there were descriptive passages that were so vivid, I just felt there needed to be more. More pages possibly, or just more world building.

Overall, I thought this was an enjoyable read and I would recommend if you are a fan of dark, historical, character driven stories. Fans of Janet Ellis’s The Butcher’s Hook and Anna Freeman’s The Fair Fight will enjoy this one.

I was SO excited to get my hands on this book- it opened up a whole new world for me! The writing is intriguing and the mystery keeps the reader guessing. And the more it continues the more you grow to love and root for the main character! Thank you for an original and gripping tale.

This is a fantastic read. At first I was dislocated, insure of the setting and the various characters but quickly settled into an era post-Henry VIII with the "Sin Eater", May, trying to survive and solve a mystery.
The concept of the "Sin-Eater" is a fascinating one: to reach The Maker in a pure state, sins are confessed and foods allocated for each sin. These food are eaten and thus the sins are removed from the dead. May is condemned to being a "sin eater" at fourteen and begins her craft with an older woman from whom she learns the rituals and foods to request. A call from the Palace of Queen Bethany to hear the sins of the Queen's governess leads to a deer heart as part of the food placed on the casket, a sin not confessed and thus refused by the Sin Eater.
The mystery of who is plotting to bring down the Queen, or prevent her fall, is woven into the story of May, "just May", sentenced to be a Sin Eater partly because she is a bastard child.
I became absorbed in the era established evocatively by Campisi and thoroughly enjoyed the plot of poisons, intrigue and illicit births in the royal family, constantly under threat by other Pretenders.

The Sin Eater, by Megan Campisi, takes an amazing premise and runs with it. What if, when people were on the verge of death, they were required to confess all their sins, and after their death, a designated person - a sin eater - took on those sins by eating foods that symbolised each type of transgression they had committed?

Fourteen-year-old orphan May Owens is forced to become a sin eater as a punishment for petty theft. It’s no picnic: from now on, she’s a social outcast, hated and feared, identified by a collar fastened with an ‘S’ and the same letter tattooed on her tongue, and not allowed to speak.

She’s not been in the job long when she’s called upon to eat the sins of one of the Queen’s ladies. The table contains an additional item of food - a deer heart - that symbolises a heinous crime the lady in question had not confessed to. May takes it upon herself to unravel the mystery behind the heart, putting herself in danger as she threatens to uncover a long-hidden truth.

I found this story very immersive. Campisi has clearly considered the role, practices and social standing of sin eaters from every angle, so there are no holes or weaknesses that make you think ‘well, why doesn’t May just do [xyz]?’. The sights, sounds and smells of the city May lives in are really vivid, especially the areas where particular types of people and occupations can be found, as well as the revels that mark the end of a foreign emissary’s visit and the culmination of May’s investigations.

It becomes apparent fairly early on that May’s world is based on the time of Elizabeth I. The names of key figures at court, religions, religious elements and more are altered slightly. This means that while they’re recognisable, you don’t get too bound up with the real characters and events, and never forget that this is an alternative history. That said, I still found it quite hard to think of Queen Elizabeth as a ‘Bethany’ because, for me, the name is so bound to its sudden massive popularity in the late 80s and 90s. I did also wonder why Edward VI’s alter ego was omitted.

May is a sympathetic and admirable character, and her struggle with her new identity is very realistic. You really feel for her because she loves to talk, misses her old friends who now shun her, and has lost the future she was expecting and looking forward to.

May goes through an internal battle as she has to decide whether to embrace her outsider status and act anti-socially because everyone is scared of her and she’s damned anyway, or try to act nobly and do the right thing. It’s not going to be easy, but if she’s good enough, she might counteract all the sins she’s taken on for other people and get to spend eternity with the Maker.

Another thing that impressed me about this book is how Campisi makes even the nicest foods May has to eat - bread, cakes, fruit and all manner of cream - sound really unappetising. It comes down to lack of choice: May has to eat everything that’s put out for her. She’s not only taking on the eternal punishment for other people’s sins, but the physical punishment of eating things she doesn’t want, as well as eating more than is comfortable.

The Sin Eater features an amazing premise, an immersive world and a brave heroine drawn into a courtly intrigue.

A magical and at times disturbing tale of 16th Century England. The character of May developed throughout the story and gave an insight into the often cruel and lonely world of the lowest classes of society. As a sineater, she was shunned and feared, but found a way to turn this into a strength to stay alive.
This was a clever fairytale / historical tale which wove mystery and murder into the plot.

‘The Sin Eater’ is certainly a page-turner, both for the murder mystery wrapped up in court intrigue and for my interest in May, our compelling protagonist.

The book takes place in some sort of alternate historical setting during the later years of the Tudor period, which was an intriguing choice. This fantasy, vaguely medieval English land of ‘Angland’ is ruled over by a ‘Queen Bethany’ (loosely based upon Elizabeth I, I believe) and follows a reimagined version of Anglicanism (I think). Meanwhile the rest of the world seems to be the same as ours, for example the Jews, Hebrew and Greek languages, and the Norman prince.

The Angland setting and the role of Sin Eaters felt quite realistic, being especially convincing when Campisi subtly kneads familiar myths and legends to fit in with the cultural figure of the Sin Eater. For example, Eve is essentially the Devil, the witch in Hansel and Gretel’s story is an old Sin Eater, and Jack and Jill feature an Eating after Jack’s (fatal) fall – an Eating being the ritual consumption of foods symbolic of myriad sins, laid atop one’s coffin. The world-building was generally done quite well, though on occasion there was some exposition-heavy dialogue. The quasi-English setting was absorbing, so sometimes it was a bit jarring to be reminded of the ‘regular’ historical setting outside of Angland. I’m still not entirely sure why Campisi decided to do a semi-fantastical historical narrative instead of a Tudor period alternate history or creating a totally fictional country.

May was a well-written character with an arc centred around regaining agency in a world that has repeatedly stripped her of it. I think May is autistic too which I don’t think is a particularly common character representation in historical fiction/fantasy, let alone in the protagonist. Speaking of diversity, one of the supporting characters, Paul, reads like he might be gay and I believe a couple of characters appearing near the end are gay too. Just a gut feeling. As May would say, ‘The belly knows.’

This story is gritty and doesn’t shy away from showing some of the darker underbelly of society and court dealings, so don’t expect any fanciful medieval romance here. I actually liked that there wasn’t a love interest – May’s got a pretty full plate (literally) running around trying to fulfil her Sin Eater duties and catch one (or more) murderers. I will say though that there is romantic potential, if Campisi decides to write a sequel!

Following the buildup of the murder mystery, the ending felt a little anti-climactic and over too fast, but on the bright side I definitely didn’t guess who the killer was. I like open endings, but if this is a standalone then I feel a little unsatisfied. There’s a lot of plot thread still left unspooled and several characters who I’d like to see again, so hopefully one day Campisi may revisit the Sin Eater’s world and tell another story…

From the part of this book that I could read, it was absolutely my thing. However, I had technical issues and the sentences were muddled up on my Kindle. I struggled for a while but it became too distracting. I will definitely try to read this in print.

This book was advertised to me as being like the Handmaid's Tale or Wolf's Creek, but it's so different. It's an incredibly creepy novel which I usually don't like but this was absolutely amazing. I loved May, her life seemed so real, she was realy fleshed out and I loved the story

Fourteen year old orphan May Owens steals a loaf of bread. For this she is sentenced to be a sin eater, someone who eats the sins of the dead. Each sin has a different food. Sin eaters are outcasts, seen as a necessary evil, they are only allowed to speak in the rooms of the dead or dying. Otherwise they must remain silent. May is sent to live with an older sin eater. Together they do their job until one day they are summoned to the Royal apartments where the old sin eater refuses to eat a deer heart on the coffin. For this she is pressed to death. May eats the heart and vows to find out what it stands for and to avenge the death of the woman she has come to see as her protector.

I loved this book. It's set in Elizabethan times but everything is slightly changed. Queen Elizabeth is Bethany, her half sister, Mary becomes Maris, God is the Maker, Catholics are Eucharistians and so on. This gives a wonderful other worldly feeling to the narration. It's history, just not quite how we know it. May is a brilliant protagonist. Alone in the world, illiterate and with no family she is resourceful and courageous. Her trials are many and she meets some interesting characters on the way. The ending is very satisfactory and leaves the door open for a sequel. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

The Sin Eater is based on a intriguing concept. I was fascinated to know that sin eaters really existed in some parts of the world, and reading about the whole idea of eating different foods to absolve the dying of their sins was interesting, although very dark and twisted. The prejudice faced by them broke my heart and made it a some what difficult read.

The character of May was quite relatable and endearing, even as the story takes place in an alternate history. Forced into a life of utter loneliness and mind-numbing prejudice, she gradually learns her way through her new social setting. Her loneliness was heart-wrenching, making her latch on to any human contact that comes her way. It was a small reassurance that she was not completely alone, and found some company and friendship in the older Sin Eater as well as other social outcasts.

I would have enjoyed the book more if it was written less like a non-fiction narrative. It was evident that the author wished to throw light on the patriarchal society and the horrors of the life of a female sin eater, but the narrative got repetitive very soon. The underlying mystery was a good relief, but the pacing of it was uneven - building very slowly and then ending too soon.

The book is compared to The Handmaid's Tale, which is definitely not fair, in my opinion. I could see the narration style Campisi was going for is similar to The Handmaid's Tale, but Offred's internal dialogue was a much more important part of the book.

Overall, an interesting concept with an engaging mystery.

Throughout this book, I found myself flipping between three and four stars. This book is a solid 3.5, I think, but I don’t do half stars so it gets rounded up to four.

May Owens doesn’t really know her place in the world. But before she can discover it, she is forced into the life of a Sin Eater, a person who cannot speak, but who must listen to the sins of the dying, then eat food to represent those sins, thereby taking on the sins for themself and absolving the dying so they can go to heaven.

Firstly, I would definitely class this as Historical Fantasy. It’s very loosely based on the Elizabethan Era, and grounded in the Tudor Period, but it’s a world of its own, with different folklore, religion and monarchs. Elizabeth, for example, is Bethany. It’s also worth noting that if this were more ‘Historical’ there would not be Sin Eaters in the unnamed…town? City? – where May lives. The area seems to be sort of London, but maybe not quite, and leaning more towards Fantasy gives the author free rein for a lot of areas.

By the way – Sin Eaters, in reality, were very much a Welsh and border counties tradition, but Campisi takes a lot of liberties with the tale, weaving in intrigue at the castle, a Northern nobleman, and various outcasts May becomes sort of friends with.

I said above this book has different folklore and religions, but it’s easy to spot their ‘real world’ equivalents. Through the book, Campisi touches on the treatment of various ‘outcasts’, including those who are disfigured, poor, or not part of the main religion in Angland.

I both liked and disliked the ‘alternative’ aspect of this book. It added something different, but for the most part so many things were the same it was hard to see why it needed to be set in an alternative world, rather than taking the Tudor Period and slipping in the more different aspects. But at the same time, the more original aspects of world building were intriguing, and enjoyable to read.

I found May to be really endearing throughout, especially with the nicknames she gives to various people she doesn’t know. She’s kind hearted, but quickly pushes back when shoved, and seeing her embrace her role was a lot of fun. As she cannot speak to people, she speaks to the various objects around her, asking them questions and listening to their answers, carving out some sort of company for herself when she can’t really have meaningful relationships with others.

Her inability to speak also means people are extremely comfortable discussing things around her, though this in parts did confuse me, as she could speak if she wished, she just isn’t supposed to. And there are times in the book when it gets frustrating, when it’s hard not to think, Just say something. Still, for the majority of the book, her inner thoughts are strong enough to keep the reader hooked, and May comes up with some inventive ways to get her point across to others.

It took me a little long to really get into this, partly because the setting was a bit distracting – it felt like an odd choice, to make such a simple mirror, and I struggled to loose myself in the story when I was questioning why the author set it in an alternative world when it could have just been set in the actual historical period, considering the parallels are so obvious.

Some of the book does feel a touch simplistic, and the worldbuilding is a mix of what feels like laziness, alongside some other really strong elements. Still, it remained an interesting story with some absolutely beautiful moments and language, and if there were other books following May’s story, I’d definitely be interested in reading them.

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.

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.