Joan

Joan is the story of Jeanne d'Arc as it more likely was. Instead of a wan, pious, delicate seer of a girl, this Joan is big, tough, surly, who has seen too much of the world by age fifteen. This world is dirty and gritty and full of pride, ego, happenstance, and a poverty-stricken girl who doesn't understand what rituals mean in royal courts.

I adored this Joan. She was very much in the vein of one of my own heroines—a survivor.

I love stories about iconoclasts, and Joan of Arc fits that description, if anyone ever has.

The hard reality of this retelling draws me in: Joan’s a secular military leader who grew up toughened from her father’s blows rather than a pious young woman who hears voices. That skeptical take may offend some readers, but the history, politics, and personalities come vividly to life and seem real to me.

Chen’s seductive prose makes me wish I could write like her, and her novel lets me feel the tragedy and uplift of a great historical figure.