Joan of Arc: A Life Transfigured

(Paperback)

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Kathryn Harrison gives us a Joan of Arc for our time-a shining exemplar of unshakable faith, extraordinary courage, and self-confidence on the battlefield, in the royal court, during a brutally rigged inquisition and imprisonment, and in the face of her death. In this new take on Joan's story, Harrison deftly weaves historical fact, myth, folklore, scripture, artistic representations, and centuries of scholarly and critical interpretation into a fascinating narrative, revitalizing our sense of Joan as one of the greatest heroines in all of human history.

Reviews

Passionate. . . . Harrison superbly teases out the politics and paradoxes of the Maid of Orleans wildly improbable saga. Elle

It remains, after nearly 600 years, a story to break your heart . . . . It is Joans rambunctious humanity as much as her divinity that makes her powerful, both for modern audiences and historians. The New York Times Book Review

Stunning. . . . A layered portrait not only of Joans life, but of her times. . . . [Harrison] awes us with her incisive intelligence, her fierce curiosity, her literary prowess.
The Boston Globe

Working from trial records and modern literature, the Bible and Bresson, Harrison marshals all the forces.The result is sumptuous, as rich and radiant as Joans (apocryphal) golden cloak.
Stacy Schiff, Pulitzer Prizewinning author ofCleopatra

It is impossible for Harrison to write an uninteresting book. She is too skilled a prose writer, too good a storyteller, too alert to passions and the human heart to produce a work that ever flags. But readJoan of Arcfor what it tells you about the world in which the subject lived and the half-millennium of culture that has continued to mythologize her. In this striking volume, it is clear that Joan fell victim to more than an eras intolerance. She became a victim to other dreamers dreams." Marie Arana, The Washington Post

If you arent already in thrall to the Maid of Orleans, you might be by the end of Kathryn Harrisons Joan of Arc. . . . [It] builds Joans story with such novelistic detail and grace that the authors rapture becomes ours. The Oregonian

Vivid and compelling. . . . Suffused with a novelists imagination. . . . Creative flourishes enliven Harrisons book from its retelling of Joans spectacular anomalous career to the long and equally fascinating story of her afterlife in books, movies, and the popular imagination.
Open Letters Monthly

If you want a badass heroine like Hushpuppy inBeasts of the Southern Wild crossed withThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoo(only with angels and Jesus) read Kathryn Harrison's hair-raising bio of Joan of Arcthe best of six I've read. She weaves a mesmerizing tale of this cross-dressing warrior who made her torturers weep, who plowed her way to the throne and led an army while never shedding a drop of blood. This year's cult book.
Mary Karr, author ofThe Liars ClubandLit

In Harrisons telling, Joan loses her mythic accessories, but the unadorned truth is more than enough. Minneapolis Star Tribune

Im impressed by the way Kathryn Harrison so brilliantly blends narrative and scholarship in this gorgeous rendering of Joan of Arcs story. Harrison draws on her deep understanding of religion, feminism and literature to produce the biography of one of the most interesting women in history. She was a mystery, a virgin, visionary, soldier and martyr, and Harrison shows vividly how all these strands connect. If youve never quite managed to get around to reading a book about Joan of Arc (I hadnt), this is the one to read. If youve read all the others, youll need to read this one, too. Roxana Robinson, author ofGeorgia OKeeffe: A Life

Deeply researched and thoughtful. . . . In Harrisons hands, Joans confidence and intelligence come alive. BookPage

Harrison joins the psychobiography school of life writing, doing so with memorable writing and an energetic approach. Kirkus Reviews

Compulsively readable. . . . In novelist Harrisons deft hands, the latest analysis is both vividly detailed and historically grounded. Casting a modern eye on a medieval legend, she is able to breathe new life into the girl, the warrior, the messenger from God, and the saint.
Booklist

Author Bio

KATHRYN HARRISON has written the novelsThicker Than Water, Exposure, Poison, The Binding Chair, The Seal Wife, and EnvyandEnchantments.Her autobiographical work includesThe Kiss, Seeking Rapture, The Road to Santiago,andThe Mother Knot.She has also written a biography,St. Therese of Lisieux,and a book of true crime,While They Slept- An Inquiry Into the Murder of a Family.She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, the novelist Colin Harrison, and their three children.