"Sin Eater" takes a very old concept and brings it back to light. From approximately the 16th to the early 20th century, individuals called Sin Eaters would visit the beds of the dying to hear a recitation of their sins. After the person had passed, the Sin Eater would eat a meal of foods corresponding to their recited sins upon their coffin thus cleansing a person of their sins and ensuring their passage to heaven. Sin Eaters were highly ostracized in communities both for the morbid nature of their work and due to the belief that they had taken on so many sins and therefore must be "polluted."

In Campisi's novel, May Owens is a teenage girl attempting to survive after the passing of both of her parents. After May is caught stealing a loaf of bread, she is sentenced by the court to become the town's next Sin Eater. The novel follows May as she comes to grips with her new role, apprentices under an older sin eater, and even uncovers a royal plot. The novel is fairly fast-paced at less than 250 pages and fairly interesting in its descriptions of May's town, her previous life, and her new responsibilities. I particularly enjoyed May's inner struggle with her faith as she fights to survive in her new role. However, I found the internal logic of the novel to be inconsistent.

May is, at turns, both extremely ignorant and brilliant. Upon becoming a Sin Eater, May has trouble doing simple things such as climbing stairs or remembering the ten or so words to begin a Sin Eater's incantation. However, she has no problem almost immediately remembering the dozens of foods and their specific corresponding sins that she must eat or developing a complex plan to embroil herself in a royal murder plot. Despite these inconsistencies, I still found this novel to be an enjoyable, if not terribly solid, piece of historical fiction. Overall, I would give this novel a 3/5 stars, and I will be sure to pick up whatever Campisi writes next.

This was an interesting read but not quite my cup of tea. I found the story; while believable, utterly cheerless and depressing. I lost interest less than halfway through the book but read it to the end to see what happened to May. I didn’t find any of the characters redeemable or even likable. Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and Ms. Campisi for thé ARC. Opinions are my own.