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Title details for Joan of Arc by Helen Castor - Available

Joan of Arc

A History

by Helen Castor
Anne Flosnik
Audiobook
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Helen Castor tells afresh the gripping story of the peasant girl from Domremy who hears voices from God, leads the French army to victory, is burned at the stake for heresy, and eventually becomes a saint. But unlike the traditional narrative, a story already shaped by the knowledge of what Joan would become and told in hindsight, Castor's Joan of Arc: A History takes us back to fifteenth century France and tells the story forwards. Instead of an icon, she gives us a living, breathing woman confronting the challenges of faith and doubt, a roaring girl who, in fighting the English, was also taking sides in a bloody civil war. We meet this extraordinary girl amid the tumultuous events of her extraordinary world where no one—not Joan herself, nor the people around her—princes, bishops, soldiers, or peasants—knew what would happen next.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    May 19, 2015

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781494593056
      • File size: 244422 KB
      • Duration: 08:29:12

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Anne Flosnik's graceful, dignified voice is perfectly appropriate for Joan the Maid. Flosnik's French accent is flawless, and she rolls through place names without hesitation. Helen Castor's history of Joan places her in the political context and violent conflicts of her time. It's complicated and can be confusing, but the best approach is just to listen and soak up the environment. Joan famously answered the call of God to lead a French army in waging war against the English while wearing a man's clothing. Her life may have been short, but martyrdom and canonization made her into what Castor calls a "massive star." Castor includes lengthy transcripts from Joan's trial, and Flosnik employs a slightly lower and quieter tone for Joan's testimony in her own defense. A fine performance. A.B. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      March 2, 2015
      Now a legendary symbol of France, Joan of Arc began her life as a 15th-century peasant girl who, after hearing the voice of God, donned “armour as though she were a man” and inspired the army of the dauphin Charles to victory over the English before leading him to his coronation at Reims as Charles VII. Castor (She-Wolves) recreates the heady atmosphere of a period when rival French, English, and English-Burgundian claims resulted in two claimants to the French throne. Her detailed, lengthy, and well-written account relates the fighting between primary dynastic houses before Joan arrives on the scene. Joan remains enigmatic throughout much of Castor’s work, but as she faces death at the hands of her English-Burgundian captors, her extraordinary will shines through. Castor increasingly uses Joan’s words during her trial, and quotes from the testimony of her friends and family members in the posthumous re-examination of her cleric-orchestrated trial. Surprisingly, Castor doesn’t mention post-WWI French nationalism and the desire of competing factions to appropriate Joan’s story in the brief discussion of Joan’s canonization in 1920. Castor creates a strong introduction to the courageous girl who swore she heard saints’ voices, but also to the nation-rending struggle for power so fiercely waged that only that singular, obsessive teenager could finally save France. Illus.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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