Recently orphaned May Owens is just fourteen, and after stealing a loaf of bread, is sentenced to become a sin eater: an outcast who hears the final confessions of the dying and eats their sins as a funeral rite. When the Queen's courtiers suddenly grow ill, May inherits a terrible rumour. The Sin Eater is a wonderfully imaginative and gripping story of treason and treachery, of women and power. 'The Handmaid's Tale' meets 'Alice in Wonderland'.