At times, Joan’s frustrations are practically palpable as she is forced to wait to return to battle despite her previous demonstrations of military leadership. Non-academic readers will surely find Castor’s writing style compelling and accessible. While giving important historical information, Castor succeeds in writing the events much more like a novel, which is sure to keep the reader wanting more.
This part of Castor’s book particularly shows her gift for storytelling. Castor follows Joan’s history with great detail, from her victory at Orleans to her demise at the stake. However, in Castor’s attempt to broaden the historical context, she does not address these earlier occurrences until the primary sources do. Some readers might be disappointed that Joan’s mystical experiences in her home of Domrémy that led her to the dauphin are not detailed until Castor describes her trial for heresy. Part 2, entitled “Joan,” begins with Joan’s arrival at Chinon to persuade the dauphin Charles VII that she was sent by God to lead him to rule a united France. Castor also includes the political influence of certain figures often overlooked, such as Yolande, Charles VII’s mother-in-law. Their deaths leave an infant to rule England and a young, disinherited Charles VII to lead the Armagnacs against English occupation. The deaths of both kings feature heavily in this portion. Castor includes the back and forth of alliances and territories in the war between England and France.
She divides the book into three parts: “Before,” “Joan,” and “After.” Part 1, “Before,” offers details about the interesting political context prior to Joan’s arrival on the scene. In her introduction, Castor states that she does not intend to tell Joan’s story only through Joan but rather, “I’ve set out to tell the story of France during these tumultuous years, and to understand how a teenage girl came to play such an astonishing part within that history” (6). The depth Castor goes into is difficult to find in other works on Joan and provides yet another perspective on the familiar figure. The number of books written about Joan of Arc (1412-1431) is vast, but Castor manages to set hers apart by giving an in-depth history that provides not only Joan’s story, but the much larger context of her life. Helen Castor’s Joan of Arc: A History is a well-written addition to the literature about the medieval saint.
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