by Mark Twain
This book was our book club selection, one long enough we spread it over two meetings. I enjoyed this book much more than Tom Sawyer. It's long, but moves quickly along so it doesn't feel particularly long.
I do not know how historically accurate this book is, but it seemed to agree what what I had know of her life. It was told with some of Twain's characteristic sarcasm like this passage when Joan was taken away from a stake and a crowd greatly disappointed by the lack of a burning:
Then suddenly everybody broke into a fury of rage; maledictions and charges of treachery began to fly freely; yes, and even stones: a stone came near killing the Cardinal of Winchester--it just missed his head. But the man who threw it was not to blame, for he was excited, and a person who is excited never can throw straight.There were also lovely sentiments:
Yes, she was gone from us: Joan of Arc! What little words they are, to tell of a rich world made empty and poor!
