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.