The Sin Eater

On sorrow, solace, and old overgrown cemeteries

This book, in addition to being written by the incomparable Gary Schmidt, contains three of the things I love most in a story: a very old house, some cloudy family history, and a cemetery. No—two cemeteries, one of which is hidden away and overgrown. Which is my favorite kind of cemetery.

So regardless of what my daughters think about The Sin Eater, I'm here to tell you that I loved it. Gary Schmidt has a reputation for tackling Hard Topics, and this book is no exception: after losing his mother to cancer, Cole watches as his dad disappears into his grief like it's an attic he can lock himself inside. But they're living with Cole's grandparents in the house where his mother grew up, and it is layered with family stories—joyful and sad—that provide a sort of counterweight to his father's depression. And his grandparents fill it with laughter, good food, and meaningful work.

The tension between these two parts of Cole's life—his father's despair and his grandparents' comfort—becomes a force at the heart of the story as the light strives to overcome the darkness. That tension propels the story forward. But in the community Cole finds in Albion, New Hampshire, Schmidt has created something that is substantive, memorable, real. The setting itself seems to support Cole as his grief over his mother's death and his father's absence ebbs and flows.

This is a moving book, a beautiful one. I've read many of Schmidt's novels, and he's a master at what he does. But something about this older title especially got to me. I can't recommend it highly enough.

(And yes, my daughter loved it, too.)

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