Book Review: Joan of Arc

Title: Joan of Arc: A Life Transfigured

Author: Kathryn Harrison

Rating: ☕ ☕ ☕ ☕ (4)

I was first introduced to the story of Joan of Arc in CCD class by a lovely religious sister (For those who aren't Catholic, a sister could be considered an un-cloistered nun.) who was visiting our church. I remember that she was wearing a plain navy blue dress, and being a young child, I wondered why she wasn't wearing black robes and a wimple like the nuns did on TV. She was visiting our class that evening because she felt it was important for us to learn about the remarkable girl our church was named for, Joan of Arc. Since that day I have been fascinated by the paradox of this peasant girl, warrior and savior of France.

Probably one of the most well-known of the Catholic Saints, there are a lot of books written about her life as a warrior. But most of these books are written for children or are carefully cultivated to emphasize her Saintly status. So I was really excited to have the chance to read a more academic and factual version of her life.

Kathryn Harrison begins with the traditional story of our Saintly virgin and how God told her to leave her home and save France from the English. Joan of Arc was carefully researched and Harrison does her best to strip away the myths surrounding Joan, a task that is made difficult because of how short her public life was and the infamous nature of her death. She also delves into the political and social climate of France and England during the Hundred Years War (1337-1453) and how Joan fit into this tumultuous period in history. This adds more insight into how truly incredible it was for this unknown girl to gain the respect and admiration of veteran soldiers and then lead them into battle – and win.

I really enjoyed this; for the most part Harrison maintained a good flow, although there are some parts that were bogged down by excess information. That aside, this is the best Joan of Arc biography I have read (and I've read quite a few) and is a good example of how biographies of female historical figures should be done.

**NetGalley provided me with an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

Book Review: Isabella: The Warrior Queen

Title: Isabella: The Warrior Queen

Author: Kirstin Downey

Rating: ☕ ☕ ☕ ☕ ☕ (5)

If you were to ask anyone who Queen Isabella of Spain was, most people would tell you that she was the monarch who bankrolled Christopher Columbus’s expedition across the Atlantic. Some might even remember that she was the Queen during the rise of the infamous Spanish Inquisition <insert obligatory Monty Python joke>. And, while these are important, they are only a fraction of the history changing events that occurred during the life and reign of one of the most famous (and infamous) rulers in Christendom.

Although I am a history major, Spain is a region I know very little about. Little by little, I’m learning about the colorful, and at times tumultuous, history of what was once the most powerful country in the Western world. I was pretty excited to have the opportunity to read this book because many of the biographies I've seen about Isabella were either written for children and/or they were a joint biography with her husband Ferdinand. And Kirstin Downey certainly filled that void.

The story of the rise of Isabella of Castile and Leon didn't begin with her marriage to Ferdinand of Aragon. It didn't begin with the death of her father King Juan II or the death of her older brother King Enrique. It began nearly 750 years before her birth when the Moors left Africa and invaded the Iberian Peninsula. Downey gives the reader a much-needed primer on the wars between the Moors and the peoples of the Iberian Peninsula. It is this and many other instances where the author puts the actions of Isabella into a greater historical context. She does an excellent job giving us the details but also giving the reader a look at the bigger picture. 

Downey takes great care to show us that Isabella was a real person; she wasn’t a saint but also had flaws like anyone else. Although she was a powerful monarch, she wasn’t infallible. She accomplished amazing things during her reign but she was also responsible for some terrible things. The author is careful to rely on facts and not, unlike many biographies, speculate about the feelings and motivations of Isabella and the people around her.

Isabella was a thoroughly researched and fascinating read. I enjoy biographies and I really love it when an author manages to give the subject back their humanity and remind us that these were real people and not characters in a fairy tale — and Kirstin Downey does just that. Even though I have the digital copy, I am definitely going to go out and buy the hard copy of Isabella: The Warrior Queen to put on my biography shelves at home next to the biographies of her daughter Catherine of Aragon.

**Yes I do have a separate section on my shelves for biographies. No, I do not sort them alphabetically by person. I sort them by time period, country, and then person. It’s my system and it works for me.**

**NetGalley provided me with an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

Book Review: La Belle Créole

Title: La Belle Créole

Author: Alina García-Lapuerta

Rating: ☕ ☕ ☕ ☕

As a history major I have always been frustrated by the lack of biographies and histories of women who were not part of the Western European Royal and Noble elite. When I was given the opportunity to read La Belle Créole, I was intrigued. I had never heard of María de las Mercedes Santa Cruz y Montalvo, the Comtesse Merlin, to be honest I didn’t know anything about Cuban culture during the Spanish Colonial period – let alone the women who lived through it.

Comtesse Merlin, or Mercedes, was born into some of the most powerful families in colonial Cuba. Her life was one of glamour and constant upheaval while the world changed around her. She persevered as she left her homeland for Spain in 1802, at the age of 13, experienced the fall of the Spanish crown, the rise and fall of Napoleon, and her own success as the hostess of Paris’s leading salon. Mercedes was not the only noble to struggle during the uncertain political climate of the Napoleonic and Restoration eras, but she is definitely one of the more fascinating ones. She didn’t have affairs or cause political intrigue; she was known for her kindness, her love of music, and her love for her family and homeland.  

I’ve mentioned this in the past and I will continue to mention it because I believe it to be very important – if the work is non-fiction, read the author’s note or introduction, and La Belle Créole is no different. Alina García-Lapuerta begins by defining the term “créole”, a word that made me think of Gambit from the X-Men. What I didn’t know was that the term créole referred to anyone born on a colony; in Cuba the term was also used for anything that came from the colonies, to differentiate it from Spain. She also clears up some naming issues amongst other things. Thankfully the author did include a partial family tree, but I wish she had placed it at the beginning with the introduction instead of in the back after the index and bibliography.

The author clearly has a deep appreciation for Mercedes and pre-Revolutionary Cuba. The research was well done and the author did well to question certain accounts from Mercedes and her contemporaries. Her descriptions of the palaces and grand estates in colonial Cuba painted a vivid picture of a time of wealth and family prestige. Alina García-Lapuerta did touch on slavery as it affected Mercedes but didn’t delve further, although there were occasions where I believe she wanted to go into more detail but chose not to. I wish the author had shown some of that restraint when talking about Mercedes’ time as a successful salon hostess. After the initial descriptions of notable guests and events she continued on and on to where it became repetitive.

Overall La Belle Créole is a beautiful story about an extraordinary woman who lived during an extraordinary time. A must read for anyone interested in women’s history or women of the time who were not Marie Antoinette or Josephine Bonaparte. I look forward to reading more from Alina García-Lapuerta, perhaps maybe a history of colonial Cuba…

**NetGalley provided me with an advanced reader copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.**