Maid: A Novel of Joan of Arc

"Was she a saint or a witch? A visionary or a madwoman? Or an extraordinary peasant girl who, at God's bidding, led an army, saved France, and paid the price by burning alive? . . . Kimberly Cutter's portrait of 'Jehanne' as a strange, gritty teenage tomboy and true believer is compelling." --USA Today

It is the fifteenth century, and the tumultuous Hundred Years' War rages on. France is under siege, English soldiers tear through the countryside destroying all who cross their paths, and Charles VII, the uncrowned king, has neither the strength nor the will to rally his army. And in the quiet of her parents' garden in Domrémy, a peasant girl sees a spangle of light and hears a powerful voice speak her name: Jehanne.

The story of Jehanne d'Arc, the visionary and saint who believed she had been chosen by God, who led an army and saved her country, has captivated our imaginations for centuries. But the story of Jehanne--the girl whose sister was murdered by the English, who sought an escape from a violent father and a forced marriage, who taught herself to ride and to fight, and who somehow found the courage and tenacity to persuade first one, then two, then thousands to follow her--is at once thrilling, unexpected, and heartbreaking. Rich with unspoken love and battlefield valor, The Maid is a novel about the power and uncertainty of faith and the exhilarating and devastating consequences of fame.

"Impressive . . . Cutter evokes the novel's medieval world with striking details." --New York Times Book Review

"Joan of Arc, the teenage peasant girl who commanded a French army, was burned at the stake, and eventually declared a saint, exists in our collective imagination as more myth than human being . . . Cutter strips away the romanticism in favor of a more complex portrayal that raises some provocative questions." --O Magazine

Author: Kimberly Cutter
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Published: 10/16/2012
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.75lbs
Size: 7.90h x 5.20w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9780547844930

About the Author
Cutter, Kimberly: -

Kimberly Cutter received her MFA from the University of Virginia. She was the West Coast editor for W Magazine for four years. She has written for Harper's Bazaar, W, Vanity Fair, New York Magazine, and Marie Claire. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.