Joan of Arc

A Life Transfigured

By: Kathryn Harrison

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell

Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's Summary

The profoundly inspiring and fully documented saga of Joan of Arc, the young peasant girl whose "voices" moved her to rally the French nation and a reluctant king against British invaders in 1428, has fascinated artistic figures as diverse as William Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Voltaire, George Bernard Shaw, Bertolt Brecht, Carl Dreyer, and Robert Bresson. Was she a divinely inspired saint? A schizophrenic? A demonically possessed heretic, as her persecutors and captors tried to prove?

Every era must retell and reimagine the Maid of Orleans' extraordinary story in its own way, and in Joan of Arc: A Life Transfigured, the superb novelist and memoirist Kathryn Harrison gives us a Joan for our time - a shining exemplar of unshakable faith, extraordinary courage, and self-confidence during a brutally rigged ecclesiastical inquisition and in the face of her death by burning. Deftly weaving historical fact, myth, folklore, artistic representations, and centuries of scholarly and critical interpretation into a compelling narrative, she restores Joan of Arc to her rightful position as one of the greatest heroines in all of human history.

©2014 Kathryn Harrison (P)2014 Random House Audio

Critic Reviews

"The versatile Harrison - novelist, biographer, memoirist and true-crime writer - becomes the most recent in a long list of authors to tell the story of the unusual warrior.... Harrison knew, of course, about the daunting list of previous interpreters, including William Shakespeare, George Bernard Shaw, Bertolt Brecht and Mark Twain. She wisely examines some of those previous interpretations, finding some of the speculation and historicism plausible but some of it wanting. Harrison examines Joan as a sexual being as well as a warrior and perhaps a schizophrenic. The sexuality angle becomes especially provocative when Harrison discusses how God may have favored Joan due to the virginity she advertised so boldly…. Harrison joins the psychobiography school of life writing, doing so with memorable writing and an energetic approach." ( Kirkus Reviews)

"In novelist [Kathryn] Harrison's 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. In addition to Joan's early years and her fiery path to battle, Harrison also includes Joan's trials, execution, and canonization in the compulsively readable narrative." ( Booklist)

"If you want a badass heroine like Hushpuppy in Beasts of the Southern Wild crossed with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (only with angels & Jesus) read Kathryn Harrison's hair-raising bio of Joan of Arc - the 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 of The Liars' Club and Lit)

"Narrator Cassandra Campbell has a strong, assured voice that transforms the work from a basic history into an intriguing journey of faith and adventure. She reads at an unhurried pace and is careful to speak every word clearly, enabling listeners to become engrossed in the story. Campbell is just as at home with French as she is with English, and she brings a certain verve to the battle scenes and descriptions of Joan's miracles. The result is a fresh interpretation that deserves to be heard." ( AudioFile)

Where Biography and Legend Collide

A straightforward biography of the life and times of Joan of Arc would be interesting enough for me. But 600 years after she was born, the story of the Maid of Orleans has been repeatedly built up and torn down by every perspective imaginable and used to attack or defend any position of thought. This book walks us through each stage of Joan's mission step-by-step. At each step, we're given Joan's situation, the events of history as it played out, the growth of the legend, and the various interpretations of all of it by scholars, psychologists, and Hollywood. At each step, the historical Joan is presented more and more remarkable as a direct result, proving that (yet again) fact is stranger than fiction. In short, much like Joan herself, this book has done the impossible.

I've mentioned in other reviews of other books about Joan that I share the same weird fascination with her as did Mark Twain. I'm not Christian, I'm not French, I'm not likely to be associated with either faction, and yet... the story of Joan is one that just sucks me right in, assuming it's given a proper presentation. This book does that and so much more. Kathryn Harrison has created in my eyes the best telling of this story since Twain himself.

As narrator, Cassandra Campbell is a great choice. She has a soft strength to her voice characteristic of the subject matter, and she has a command of the French language that's essential to the story.

YUCK and phooey,

I wanted a book on Joan of Arc. I thought it might be cool to learn a bit more about her. Much of the book evaluates movies and pictures of joan of Arc instead of the actual person. The comparisons with Christ could be interesting but ended up being offensive.

Save your time and Money!!!

Bad history and confusing premise

I had to stop listening to this book because the author made one too many historical errors. I also couldn't figure out if it was supposed to be a history of Joan of Arc or a discussion of how Joan has been used since her death.

Elegant and provocative

With comprehensive research and elegant prose, this story of Joan of Arc builds a portrait of a an astonishing woman of history. The author uses historical documents and embellishes the chronology of events with literary accounts of Joan’s story from Mark Twain, Leonard Cohen, George Bernard Shaw, and Shakespeare resulting in a poetic, authentic, riveting story. I love the depth and artistry of this book.

thanks for the history lesson

great book. answered all the questions I had about this incredible woman. very well performed

Should be under fiction

The book does not clearly and consistently distinguish between myth, legend, documented history, or symbology. It makes easy listening and a good story but a bit confusing at times.

Fantastic description of the life of Joan of Arc.

Like a bridge between the rational and divine, her documented story of a Saint gives a glimpse of what divine contact with mortals may be like. You ride with Joan and feel the call of God upon her and realize if you had been there you may have joined her cause.

Oh beautiful and empowering Joan

Great narration! Great story and very educating book. I listened to this book only in my vehicle during the sporadic commute. Even my teenage son enjoyed it.

In Depth Story And Exceptional Performance

I always love this performer and seek books out with her. This is a very comprehensive and detailed book about Joan of Arc. I didn’t know much, other than childhood stories before I heard this. I’m so glad I did! The research is incredible and the sources are on point. It reads like an actually interesting grad school thesis.

Tedious , smug , clumsy

I could not finish this book . It is boring self Important dribble containing so many deviations away from the actual story of Joan of Arc . It seems like the author wants to show off all of the research she did by cramming it all in between paragraphs about the actual subject of the book . So clunky and chopped up ! Also her opinions and analogies about Joan’s faith and the main ( self proclaimed by Joan herself ) reason she became a warrior and died willingly are offensive and patronizing. I had to make it stop

Barely counts as history

I'll be returning this book, but I wanted to review it before I did.

Given the book's length, I was hoping for a grounded, in-depth history of Joan and some of the historical controversies that have popped up around her. Maybe some good context into Medieval thinking that would help a modern thinker understand the psyches involved. Did Joan really believe in her voices, or was she merely a pawn in other peoples' political plays... or both? Was she an outlier, or did people in that time often have ecstatic religious experiences?

Instead we have an author that makes her biases perfectly clear from the offset, making statements like "Just like Jesus before her, Joan's birth was prophesied" and broadly painting her story with all the nuance of a children's book. It just was bland and insipid. The narrator was ok, but the material she had to work with was not. Other reviewers have complained about her accents, but I didn't even make it far enough to get to them.