Joan of the Lilies by Maureen Peters

JaneConsumer · Post by **JaneConsumer** » Fri September 5th, 2008, 8:32 pm

My earlier review, reposted here:

Joan of the Lilies is a short biographical novel on Joan of Arc. I found it to be historically accurate with respect to events and character portrayal. It perhaps leaned toward the Catholic point of view. But that could be because the author focused on the response of Joan's contemporaries.

While the novel was short - only 191 pages - I found it necessary to brush up on the history while reading it. It isn't by any means a dry read. But it can be difficult to follow if you don't know the history. Peters makes assumptions about the education of her audience.

In any event, I enjoyed it. On a 1 to 5 scale, I'd give it a 3.5. Read the full review at Fuzzy History.

annis · Post by **annis** » Sat September 6th, 2008, 2:04 am

Thanks for the review, Jane, I must see if I can find a copy to read. You'd think that the fascinating story of Jehanne d'Arc would have attracted more attention from historical fiction writers than it has, though there are a few YA novels around.
One of the more surprising ones ( and a good read) is Mark Twain's (adult) book
"The Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc"

diamondlil · Post by **diamondlil** » Sat September 6th, 2008, 2:09 am

I wonder if perhaps there are more HF books published about characters like her in France, and we just don't know about them.

annis · Post by **annis** » Sat September 6th, 2008, 2:36 am

That's very likely true, Diamondlil. Apart from older ones, there are a lot of really interesting new historical novels written in French which I see mentioned on the XO Editions website. It makes me wish that my French was much better than it is!

Misfit · Post by **Misfit** » Sat September 6th, 2008, 12:19 pm

Once again, Annis is our resident encyclopedia of information

Any one ever read Twain's book? I understand that he considered it his best work.

Divia · Post by **Divia** » Sat September 6th, 2008, 2:55 pm

[quote=""diamondlil""]I wonder if perhaps there are more HF books published about characters like her in France, and we just don't know about them.[/quote]

Well I know some American ones:

Army of Angels by by Pamela Marcantel
Joan of Arc by Diane Stanley
Joan of Arc by Josephine Poole and Angela Barrett (Illustrator)
Warrior Girl: A Novel of Joan of Arc by Pauline Chandler (YA)
Young Joan by Barbara Dana (Middle schoolers)

Army of Angels is the only adult novel about joan of arc that I have come across. Maybe there are more, but I dont know of any at the moment. I dont know why she isnt explored more. Her life was so interesting. Most books are for YAs or younger students.

I did read Army of Angels way back when. I didn't enjoy that Joan got raped while in prision.

Misfit. I did read the Twain book and at the time though it was just OK. I was a teen then. Maybe my view would chane now. He put a lot of time into it though.

Misfit · Post by **Misfit** » Sat September 6th, 2008, 4:01 pm

I might give Twain a whirl one of these days. I'd have to be in the right frame of mind and mood though. I'm sure it's not a light hearted thing like we're used to with his books.