Description
Book SynopsisFrance's great heroine and England's great scourge: whether a lunatic, a witch, a religious icon, or a skilled soldier and leader, Joan of Arc's contemporaries found her as extraordinary and fascinating as the legends that abound about her today. This book paints a portrait of Joan as a self-confident, charismatic and supremely determined figure.
Trade Review"Larissa Juliet Taylor seeks the Joan of Arc who actually lived. It is a stunning portrayal rarely encountered. Joan is intelligent, strong, articulate, and above all inspirational. If you have been looking for one book that explains how this remarkable teenage girl could accomplish all that she achieved, then this is it." - Mack P. Holt, author of The French Wars of Religion
-- Mack P. Holt
"Larissa Juliet Taylor has written a fresh and provocative biography of La Pucelle by emphasizing her transformation from a naive girl to a strong-willed, bold, and gifted captain of war who imposed her will on a kingdom and on history. This is an absorbing book that is almost impossible to put down." - Frederic J. Baumgartner, author of France in the Sixteenth Century
-- Frederic J. Baumgartner
"This fine biography brings Joan fully to life not as a symbol for other eras but as a remarkable flesh and blood woman, who shaped her country and her times." - Keith P. Luria, North Carolina State University
-- Keith P. Luria
"Larissa Juliet Taylor goes deep into Joan of Arc's heart and soul and shows us the maiden, the warrior and the heroine. She brings fourteenth century France to teeming, vibrant life and tells Joan's story with true sensitivity. Fascinating." - Kate Williams, author of
Becoming Queen -- Kate Williams
‘An admirably nuanced, critical biography, which, in its straightforward approach to the sources, serves as a necessary corrective to much current scholarship…Taylor uses original and hitherto unexploited source material to great effect.’—Brenda Bolton, Church Times
-- Brenda Bolton * Church Times *
"Taylor succeeds in producing a clear and exceptionally accessible biography. When she describes how 'The subtleties of court politics... were lost on Joan, pieces of a puzzle she never figured out. She heard what she wanted to hear, that the king would no longer make truces with Burgundy and that she would be able to take the fight to them' (p. 113), the reader cannot help but think that this portrait of Joan is an authentic one."—David J. Hay,
The Journal of Military History -- David J. Hay * Journal of Military History *
"By providing a straightforward narrative of Joan's life, reliant primarily upon English-language sources, Taylor orients this book towards a general audience. By attempting to make sense of this life and, in doing so, to make it less strange, she renders the book of interest to scholarly readers."—Karen Sullivan,
Renaissance Quarterly -- Karen Sullivan * Renaissance Quarterly *
‘Larissa Juliet Taylor succeeds in presenting Joan differently…not simply as a saint in the making which is what many previous biographers have done…This account however is a clear, concise and illuminating one, which goes some way to present Joan in a more human light.’ — Belinda Webb, Tribune
-- Belinda Webb * Tribune *
'An extraordinary story that is here told with understanding, sympathy, and authority.' — Contemporary Review * Contemporary Review *
". . . fresh points and analysis derived from many years of in-depth research and even more pondering. . . . [Joan's] story will doubtlessly continue to be told. But few will tell it as well as Larissa Taylor has."—Kelly DeVries,
Speculuma Journal of Medieval Studies -- Kelly DeVries * Speculuma Journal of Medieval Studies *
