Sin Eater

“For fans of The Handmaid’s Tale...a debut novel with a dark setting and an unforgettable heroine...is a riveting depiction of hard-won female empowerment” (The Washington Post). 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. “Very much reminiscent of The Handmaid’s Tale…it transcends its historical roots to give us a modern heroine” (Kirkus Reviews). “A novel as strange as it is captivating” (BuzzFeed), The Sin Eater “is a treat for fans of feminist speculative fiction” (Publishers Weekly) and “exactly what historical fiction lovers have unknowingly craved” (New York Journal of Books).

The New York Times bestselling author of Redeeming Love and A Voice in the Wind pens a captivating tale of suffering, seeking, and redemption set in Appalachia in the 1850s. In the misty peaks and valleys of Appalachia roams the sin eater—a myth as much as a man, burdened with absolving the sins of villagers passing from this life to the next. But when a young girl uncovers the dark secret behind the tradition, she vows to show her village the truth. All that matters for young Cadi Forbes is finding the one man who can set her free from the sin that plagues her, the sin that has stolen her mother’s love from her and made Cadi wish she could flee life and its terrible injustice. But Cadi doesn’t know that the sin eater is seeking as well. Before their journeys are over, Cadi and the sin eater must face themselves, each other, and the One who will demand everything from them in exchange for the answers they seek. “This unforgettable novel is rich in style, lore, and action, revealing a profound truth in a way only Francine Rivers can do. Transcending age, gender, and reading genres, this gripping story is a must-read for men, women, and young people alike.” —Romantic Times “Rivers delivers both a powerful message about Christian beliefs and the need for forgiveness of sins and an evocative portrayal of life in the 1850s. Highly recommended.” —Library Journal Also available in The Francine Rivers Historical Collection (e-book only).

Seventeen-year-old Twylla lives in the castle. But although she's engaged to the prince, Twylla isn't exactly a member of the court. She's the executioner. As the Goddess embodied, Twylla instantly kills anyone she touches. Each month, she's taken to the prison and forced to lay her hands on those accused of treason. No one will ever love a girl with murder in her veins. Even the prince, whose royal blood supposedly makes him immune to Twylla's fatal touch, avoids her company.But then a new guard arrives, a boy whose easy smile belies his deadly swordsmanship. And unlike the others, he's able to look past Twylla's executioner robes and see the girl, not the Goddess. Yet Twylla's been promised to the prince, and knows what happens to people who cross the queen. However, a treasonous secret is the least of Twylla's problems. The queen has a plan to destroy her enemies, a plan that requires a stomach-churning, unthinkable sacrifice. Will Twylla do what it takes to protect her kingdom? Or will she abandon her duty in favor of a doomed love?

People in Merit, Wisconsin, always said Jimmy was . . . you know. But people said all sorts of stupid stuff. Nobody really knew anything. Nobody really knew Jimmy. I guess you could say I knew Jimmy as well as anyone (which was not very well). I knew what scared him. And I knew he had dreams?even if I didn't understand them. Even if he nearly ruined my life to pursue them. Jimmy's dead now, and I definitely know that better than anyone. I know about blood and bone and how bodies decompose. I know about shadows and stones and hatchets. I know what a last cry for help sounds like. I know what blood looks like on my own hands. What I don't know is if I can trust my own eyes. I don't know who threw the stone. Who swung the hatchet? Who are the shadows? What do the living owe the dead?

Argyle eased the warm loaf right and left and downed swift gulps of beer and venial sin then lit into the bread now leavened with the corpses's cardinal mischiefs, then he said "Six pence, I'm sorry." and the widow paid him. So opens the unsantioned priesthood of The Sin-Eater: A Breviary - Thomas Lynch's collection of two dozen, twenty-four line poems - a book of hours in the odd life and times of Argyle, the sin-eater. Celtic and druidic, scapegoat and outlier, a fixture in the funerary landscape of former centuries, Argyle's doubt-ridden witness seems entirely relevant to our difficult times. By turns worshipful and irreverent, good-humoried and grim, these poems examine the deeper meanings of Eucharist and grace, forgiveness and faith, atonement and reconcilation.

I returned to the village after a time away at university and, seeking out my old friend, I came instead upon a mystery: Adam's cottage, his garden, and Adam himself were nowhere to be found. The author and minister Frederick Buechner wrote that "in one way or another, man comes upon mystery as a summons to pilgrimage." And so it was for me. To find my friend, or at least solve the riddle of what had become of him, I embarked on a new journey of discovery. Filled with shamanistic insights and magical experiences, this spiritual memoir tells the true story of Ross Heaven's search for Adam Dilwyn Vaughan. The enigmatic Adam, who introduced Heaven to the lost art of sin eating and other Celtic traditions, left him a gift—his journal. As Heaven travels on the dragon path, he explores the mysteries of the Holy Grail, encounters spirit healers, and experiences an incredible vision of the earth oracle. His fascinating journey ultimately leads to powerful revelations of his life purpose and the fate of humankind. This guide includes a sin eater's workbook of simple Celtic divination, dreamwork, and intuitive practices. Praise: "The story is beautifully told, characters vividly described, and for anyone vaguely interested in the way that dimensions intertwine, this book is fascinating."—Kindred Spirit

"And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities" ---Leviticus 16:22. A sin eater is a person who has the capacity to sense, draw out, and consume the suffering of both the living and the dead. Though only through Jesus can anyone hope for salvation, the sin eater takes upon himself the suffering in the hopes that the unburdened soul can find its way back to the Lord. This book is a guide to those who would become such a person, and serves as a manual for a successful ministry as a sin eater.

The sineater is a mysterious, terrifying figure of the night, condemned to live alone in the mountains. He comes out only when a death occurs in the small community of Beacon Cove. As mourners at the wake turn to face the wall, the sineater enters to eat food off the chest of the dead, thus taking on the sins of the departed and cleansing the soul to enter heaven. The sineater has a family, yet even they must be asleep on the rare occasions he comes home for a midnight meal. The elder son, Curry, works as an oak weaver and prepares himself for life as the sineater when his father dies. Joel, the younger son, attends the community school but is either ignored or taunted by the other students. A rash of violent crimes and murders rock Beacon Cove. The religious leadership announces that the sineater, overburdened with sins he has consumed, has become the embodiment of the devil. They must forbid him from attending wakes and do all they can to protect themselves from his evil. However, when troubled young Burke Campbell moves to Beacon Cove, he challenges the community's superstitions and fears and forces Joel to face the reality of who he is...and who his father is.