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Need a break from the news? Check out Sin Eater by Megan Campisi!
When teenage May is caught stealing, she receives a life sentence: she must become a Sin Eater—a shunned, silent woman, performing a funeral rite of consuming food that symbolizes each particular sin—from lust to rebellion to murder. Sin Eaters really did exist in parts of Britain until roughly a century ago; this story starts with this sliver of knowledge but is spun out of fantasy.
I have seen the words “sin eater” in book titles before, but never knew what it meant. Apparently this was a real thing in the 16th century. The history behind it is fascinating, and the author brings the legends to life in this beautiful, heartbreaking novel. Campisi creates a world that mirrors Elizabethan England, but has some unique touches. The result is a fantasy with a historical twist. Really interesting!
When I started reading Sin Eater a few weeks ago, it was before the COVID pandemic hit the US. The social fears that pitted neighbor against neighbor was a fictional scenario on paper, not real to me. Now that the world has changed in such a surreal, drastic way, I can see how the world of Sin Eater could come about. My heart broke for May as she navigated such extreme circumstances alone. Would I be the type of person who would risk becoming a social pariah for a person in May’s situation? Everything is based on social hierarchy and community expectations. Sadly, May is left behind as one of the people who falls through the cracks — forced to do what she must to survive a desperate situation.
Sin Eater is being compared to high-profile stories such as The Handmaid’s Tale. I don’t see it in the same category; however, it definitely presents a different world than the one we’re all used to. It’s a great story to take your mind off the reality of what we’re all living through right now!
MORE ABOUT SIN EATER
The Sin Eater walks among us, unseen, unheard
Sins of our flesh become sins of Hers
Following Her to the grave, unseen, unheard
The Sin Eater Walks Among Us.
For the crime of stealing bread, fourteen-year-old May receives a life sentence: she must become a Sin Eater—a shunned woman, brutally marked, whose fate is to hear the final confessions of the dying, eat ritual foods symbolizing their sins as a funeral rite, and thereby shoulder their transgressions to grant their souls access to heaven.
Orphaned and friendless, apprenticed to an older Sin Eater who cannot speak to her, May must make her way in a dangerous and cruel world she barely understands. When a deer heart appears on the coffin of a royal governess who did not confess to the dreadful sin it represents, the older Sin Eater refuses to eat it. She is taken to prison, tortured, and killed. To avenge her death, May must find out who placed the deer heart on the coffin and why.
“A keenly researched feminist arc of unexpected abundance, reckoning, intellect, and ferocious survival” (Maria Dahvana Headley, author of The Mere Wife) SIN EATER is “a dark, rich story replete with humor, unforgettable characters, and arcane mysteries. It casts a spell on your heart and mind until the final page” (Jennie Melamed, author of Gather the Daughters). For fans of The Essex Serpent and Red Clocks, SIN EATER is an inventive exploration of history and womanhood in the 16th century with a dystopian and eerily contemporary feminist twist.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Megan Campisi is a playwright, novelist, and teacher. Her plays have been performed in China, France, and the United States. She attended Yale University and the L’École International de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq. The author of Sin Eater, she lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her family.
SIN EATER by Megan Campisi
Atria Books | On Sale: April 7, 2020 | ISBN: 978-1-9821-2410-6 | $27.00 | Hardcover
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