A Man of Steel is a medieval romance set in northern England in the fourteenth century. Camilla is a widow indebted to the sheriff Godric and she’s promised to marry Godric’s son Risby – sight unseen. Risby is expected to arrive any time, but before he arrives, Godric’s castle gets another visitor, Sir Stevyn Strongbow. Camilla has a heated and clandestine encounter with him upon his arrival and has mixed feelings when Godric orders her to befriend and spy on Stevyn. Camilla’s confusion increases when it turns out Stevyn has come to investigate the claims that the local abbot, Barnabas, is selling fake relics.

Barnabas keeps a sanctuary and a maternity ward for unwed mothers and other pregnant women with nowhere else to go. Camilla herself had given birth there and helps Barnabas in the Sanctuary regularly, so she doesn’t want to believe ill of him. Godric urges Stevyn to drop the investigation, which serves to strengthen Stevyn’s suspicions that he is an accomplice. Entreaties are replaced by threats which become sinister, and Stevyn finds himself in very real danger.

Stevyn and Camilla have a quickly-developing erotic relationship, spiced with the danger of getting caught, but it’s difficult to progress beyond that. She is engaged to Risby and fights her feelings. Stevyn bears guilt from a past mistake and is used to considering himself a loner.

A Man of Steel worked okay for me as a love story. The couple’s conflicting feelings and obligations made the romance interesting and the love scenes were a little out of the ordinary. The investigation part does not work as well, however, because the outcome is clear from the beginning and the most suspenseful question is how obtusely the truth is denied. The end, however, does hold one surprise.

The historical setting is questionable because it seems unlikely that an establishment like Barnabas’s Sanctuary would exist in the middle ages. Creating a sanctuary for unwed mothers is certainly very enlightened of him, considering most medieval abbots would be more likely to condemn these sinners to hell in a handbasket. But even stranger is the fact that monks work as midwives there. If it were nuns running the place, I’d have easier time accepting this, as midwives have traditionally been exclusively female. Furthermore, introducing all these fallen women amidst the monks might tempt them to break their vows of chastity, which any reasonable abbot would take care to avoid. I waited for some reasonable explanation but it never came.

A Man of Steel is not a masterpiece but it’s pleasant. It could have been more suspenseful and the period feel left something to hope for but the romance kept me entertained quite nicely for one evening.