A stunning feminist reimagining of the life of Joan of Arc - perfect for fans of Cecily, Ariadne and Matrix
Times Best Historical Novels of July 2022 Pick
The Week Best Novels of 2022 Pick
Girl. Warrior. Heretic. Saint?
France is mired in a losing war against England. Its people are starving. Its king is in hiding. Yet out of the chaos, an unlikely heroine emerges.
Reckless, steel-willed and brilliant, Joan has survived a childhood steeped in both joy and violence to claim an extraordinary - and fragile - position at the head of the French army. The battlefield and the royal court are full of dangers and Joan finds herself under suspicion from all sides - as well as under threat from her own ambition.
With unforgettably vivid characters and propulsive storytelling, Joan is a thrilling epic, a triumph of historical fiction, and a feminist celebration of one remarkable - and remarkably real - woman who left an indelible mark on history.
About the Author
Katherine J. Chen is the author of the novel Mary B. Her work has been published in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Literary Hub, and in the historical fiction anthology Stories from Suffragette City. She is a graduate of Princeton University and received her MFA from Boston University, where she was a senior teaching fellow and awarded the Florence Engel Randall Fiction Prize.
Industry Reviews
'It is as if the author has crept inside a statue and breathed a soul into it, re-creating Joan of Arc as a woman for our time' Hilary Mantel, twice Booker Prize-winning author of The Mirror & the Light
'A glorious, sweeping novel . . . Richly imagined, poignant and inspiring' Jennifer Saint, author of Ariadne
'Chen earns the comparison [to Mantel] thanks to her vivid, visceral and boldly immediate storytelling . . . a hypnotic heroine for our time' Telegraph
'Chen's Joan roars off the page. If you liked Ariadne, then this has to be your next read' Red Magazine
'Brilliant . . . Chen [presents] Joan as a beguiling, fully human mix of wariness and confidence, and fiercely protective of those she loves' Guardian
