"Joan is pictured as pious, strong-willed, and heroic. Brooks's carefully rendered and moving history focuses on the single year in which Joan led the army of Prince Charles to victory and then fell prey to the jealousy, court intrigue, and superstition that brought about her death." - The Horn Book

The king was going mad . . . So begins Polly Schoyer Brooks's account of one of history's most compelling stories and one of the world's most popular heroines-Joan of Arc. Brooks tells us of a fifteenth-century France ravaged by war, plague, and religious conflict; of a king who suffered fits of madness and his weak son who made a disappointing successor; and of a peasant girl from the countryside who accomplished what appeared to be miracles by rallying the dispirited French nation with her desire to see the rightful king rule. Little more than a year after her astounding triumphs-uniting the nation and securing the throne for Charles VII with her victory over the English at Orlean-nineteen-year-old Joan was imprisoned on charges of witchcraft and sorcery, tried for heresy, and burned at the stake. Polly Schoyer Brooks's detailed narrative unveils the spirited young woman who became a patron saint and continues to inspire courage and faith. "[Joan] was entirely human and never was humanity greater!"

176 pgs

About the Author:
Polly Schoyer Brooks lives in New Canaan, Connecticut, where she enjoys her four children, ten grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.