The Last Sin Eater

The Last Sin Eater is a 1998 Christian book by the American author Francine Rivers. It deals with the themes of sin, guilt and forgiveness, and tells about the atonement of Jesus Christ.

Plot summary

The Last Sin Eater is about a ten-year old girl named Cadi Forbes, who lives in a settlement community of Welsh Americans. At the beginning of the novel, Cadi's grandmother Gorawen has just died. At her funeral, the village's Sin Eater comes and Cadi does the "forbidden" and makes eye contact with him. The next day, Cadi goes into the narrows and is thinking about how to receive her forgiveness from her mother. She comes to the conclusion that she can either have her sins taken away by the sin eater or to commit suicide. At that time, a little girl named Lilybet appears. Cadi is the only one who can see or hear Lilybet, and her parents and others begin to believe that she is "keeping company with taints" and that the girl is a demon. Cadi seeks out the Sin Eater by talking first to Elda Kendric who is the oldest person in the village and the wisest.

During all of this, a man of God comes to share the word of God, but camps outside the village. Brogan Kai, the self proclaimed village leader tells all of the villagers not to go near the man because of his potential of spreading faith. Brogan's son Fagan and Cadi go anyway. They are intrigued by the word of God, but they cannot come out of the bushes for fear of lightning striking them. Cadi finds the Sin Eater and convinces him to take away her sins if she goes to see the man of God. The Sin Eater performs the ceremony, but nothing happens and no sins are removed.

It is revealed that a while back Cadi's little sister Elen drowned, having followed Cadi to the river (a place they were not allowed to be) and slipping on the log bridge. However, most of the people believe Cadi to have pushed her in. In one scene, Cadi overhears her parents talking and her mother say "it shouldn't have been Elen", implying that she wishes it was Cadi who'd drowned.

Cadi, while looking for the Sin Eater, sees a cabin which she did not previously know was there. She also sees a woman go out and take honey from bee hives in broad daylight. They don't sting her. When Cadi asks about the woman, Miz Elda tells her she is Bletsung Macleod, an outcast who is believed to have killed her own father.

Later, Cadi goes back to see the man of God and talk to him in person because she was dared to do so by the Sin Eater. She talks with him a while and then Fagan comes and they both accept Christ and are baptized. Cadi goes back to Elda Kendric's, because she falsely convinced her parents that old Elda needed assistance. After Cadi and the man's next encounter, Brogan finds her and chokes her till she faints. Even later than that, Brogan beats Fagan and kills the man of God

Cadi and Fagan run to Bletsung Macleod's house. Brogan and Iona Kai come to get them, but Brogan is fooled and Iona allows it because she sees the beating Brogan gave Fagan. In the end, Brogan and the Sin Eater have a showdown in front of the entire village at Elda Kendric's house. Cadi and Fagan reveal the truth to the villagers, and the Sin Eater, also known as Sim, is free to live as a normal person. During the confrontation, the Sim admits that it was actually him who killed Bletsung's father when he found him raping Bletsung. Cadi's mother forgives her, saying she never blamed Cadi for Elen's death, but rather herself and reveals that it was in fact herself who she wishes had died in Elen's place, as she had sent Elen after Cadi on the day she drowned. She calls Cadi by the nickname she used when Cadi was small: "li'l bit of heaven."

In the last few pages, it is revealed what happens over the next few decades. Cadi never sees Lilybet again afterwards, believing her to be an angel sent from God to lead onto the right path. The practice of sin eating is abolished, and Sim marries Bletsung and they have a son. Fagan temporarily leaves the valley and receives an education. He returns a few years later with a Bible and visits the Forbeses. Within a month he and Cadi are married, and they have a daughter. Sim and Bletsung's son and Fagan and Cadi's daughter are married; it is revealed that throughout the novel Cadi was actually talking to her grandchildren, telling them the story. She bids them good night, saying that they are her own "little bits of heaven."

Film adaptations

In 2007, The Last Sin Eater was made in to a feature film, directed by Michael Landon Jr..