Books and Cooks Ithaca -- January 2000

An Army of Angels: A Novel of Joan of Arc

Our rating: 2.38 cups of tea!

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Discussion date: Tuesday, January 25, 2000

Discussion place: Vera's Place

Menu: Vera's chicken dish . . .

From Booklist , February 15, 1997
This richly textured narrative brilliantly revivifies the life and legend of Joan of Arc, the fifteenth-century French peasant maid who led an army into battle against the English. An earthy farm girl with a mystical bent, "Jehanne" begins experiencing visions and hearing the voices of St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret at the age of 13. Beckoned by the voices to bear arms in support of the beleagured dauphin, she undertakes a divine mission to liberate France. Upon gaining the confidence of the dauphin, she is rewarded with a regiment of soldiers and deals the English several crushing military blows before she is captured and tried as a heretic. Rather than portraying Joan as a pious saint, Marcantel characterizes her as a flawed and vulnerable human being often plagued by both doubt and fear. An impassioned chronicle of an unparalleled heroine. 

From Kirkus Reviews , January 15, 1997
A great sweep of a debut that vividly illuminates history and religious faith as it tells the story of Joan of Arc, the saint with an attitude, who restored France to the French. With all the proper research buttons pushed, first-novelist Marcantel offers a bracing story of the young woman who fought battles, temporal and spiritual, and inspired a king and an army, only to be burned at the stake. This is no revisionist tale: Joan is not some proto-feminist bent on changing society but, rather, a deeply devout young woman who loves her country, her king, and, above all, her God. Agreeably, she is not cloyingly pious either, and it is to Marcantel's immense credit that she makes Joan so credible a figure: a saint but also a woman who is frequently impatient, sometimes bad-tempered, even willful, but always remarkable. The story of her short but brilliant journey to fame and martyrdom begins on a summer's day when the 13-year-old Joan, out in her peasant family's garden, senses a tremendous Presence and is then addressed by voices as ``the Daughter of God who was born for glory on earth and in Heaven.'' These voices counsel and comfort the maturing Joan, who is anguished by her countrymen's suffering under the English overlords and their allies. Heeding their advice, she dresses as a young man, rallies veteran soldiers, leads an army to victory, and emboldens the uncrowned French king to reclaim his kingdom. But her fall is as fast as her rise: The English put a price on her head, and the king refuses to fight. Her voices fall silent, and a farce of a trial is followed by a brutal rape and the death sentence. Joan, though, will regain her faith and power long enough to shame all those who watch her die. Historical fiction of the best kind: intelligent, lively, and persuasive.

The Books and Cooks An Army of Angels: A Novel of Joan of Arc Informal Reading Guide
(member-generated questions in no particular order)

• What is your opinion of Jehanne's conversations and relationship with her "voices"? Does it seem "real"? What about when they abandoned her?

• Did Pamela Marcantel believe in Jehanne's voices?

• Does the author intend for us to believe Jehanne's Counsel were who she said they were?
  Was Pamela Marcantel hindered in her choice to use the actual trial records? What could she have done if she had taken more liberties with them?

• Do you think this type of book is effective as a method for learning about a historical figure and/or event? Do you trust the knowledge you gain?

• Could you tell the saints apart from each other?

• Is it realistic that Jehanne felt such remorse that the English - the goddons - were slain before having repented?

• What exactly did Jehanne need to confess to Pasquerel 5, 6, 10 times each day?

• Assuming you met somebody who claims to be talked to by God, how would you go about finding out if there is something to it?
  How does Rufus in Kindred compare to Charles? 

This Page Last Revised: November 21, 2000.