For those who enjoyed the Brother Cadfael books but
wondered about the female side of the story, THE MIRACLE
THIEF provides a glimpse into a past era as seen by a nun,
a princess and a penitent heiress. Beginning in AD 911 when
abbeys provided shelter and education for children and
widows, but the Danes were an ever-present threat, we meet
Juliana in Rochemont Abbey in France.
Juliana lives the cloistered life now, but once had a good
time on the outside and her daughter is a princess whom she
never meets. As the main nun in charge of the altar and
relic of St. Catherine, Juliana lives simply and seeks
atonement for earlier wickedness.
Anna, daughter of a well-off family, has a deformed right
hand which at the time was considered a mark of evil. She
had never gone out and made a living but has had servants.
Now following her mother's death she is instructed to make
a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Catherine.
Gisele in the Frankish camp, princess daughter of a
concubine, is horrified when her lord makes a treaty with
the Danish warriors which includes marrying one of them to
Gisele. The Danes had sacked and burned Paris but is this
too high a price to pay for peace? Gisele insists on
making a pilgrimage to St Catherine's shrine, then after
the Danish chief is baptised she will obey. Thus the three
women are set to meet at Rochemont Abbey.
Not many records of this period survive but change was slow
to happen, usually forced by battle. Each fiefdom -
Burgundy, Poitiers, East Frankia - had its own feudal lord
who owed allegiance to the king. By gradually ceding land
to the Northmen the people laid the foundation for the
Norman French who later overpowered England. We see in Iris
Anthony's well-crafted tale that women played vital roles
in several areas such as cloth and food production but had
little or no control over their lives. Pilgrimages were a
great source of income for wayside inns and for monastic
settlements; they also provided a respectable way to see
the world and spread ideas. Children with developmental
problems were consigned to the nuns' care; while meeting a
boar in the woods could be deadly. The colourful, bustling,
brawny past is well recreated in this interesting account,
when miracles were expected and someone stealing a saint's
relic could be called THE MIRACLE THIEF. History lovers and
those who enjoy unusual adventures will have a good read.
Sister Juliana
does. She's seen miracles happen as she tends Saint
Catherine's altar and guards her relic. Yet she doesn't
quite dare to believe that even Saint Catherine could help
her atone for her wicked past.
Anna does. And she so
desperately needs one. In a time when a deformity is
interpreted as evidence of a grievous sin, in a place where
community is vital to existence, Anna has no family, no
home, and no master.
Princess Gisele wants to. A
miracle is the only thing that can save her from being given
to a brutal, pagan chieftain in marriage.
For those
who come in faith, saints offer the answer to almost any
prayer. But other forces are plotting to steal Saint
Catherine's relic, to bend the saint's power to their own
use. Penitent, pilgrim, princess — all will be drawn into an
epic struggle where only faith can survive. But in a quest
for divine blessing, only the most ruthless of souls may win
the prize.
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