Joan Of Arc: A History

"It turns out that 15th century France was Game of Thrones without the dragons. Helen Castor spends the first 89 pages of this biography setting up a world of blood and betrayal before Joan even makes her entrance. When the maid finally wades into this political snake pit, her power to move hearts and armies is both mysterious and astonishing. Castor never goes beyond the bounds of the documents and never succumbs to the modern impulse to psychoanalyze her heroine. As a result, this Joan is a creature of her time: used, destroyed and sanctified to serve the aims of the powerful."