From Palmerston to Balfour Book

After reading Josephine Poole's Snow White (illustrated by Angela Barrett) I decided to read this. Also, I am tired. When I am tired I read picture books.

Joan of Arc is a saint I love to read about. The first time I read about her, I was about 12 years old. I found her extremely fascinating, brave and likable.

Though I was raised Catholic, I had never heard about her up to that point in my life. She was never a saint taught in the Sunday School. The more I read, I realised she was burnt at the stake with the approval of the Catholic Church. It took me more reading to realise that her murder was a result of the corrupted English-French Politics disguised as a Catholic Inquisition. I guess it was around that time I began to learn about the Inquisition. Books can take you to the most unexpected places, I guess.

This book allows the readers to learn about the life of this amazing young lady without getting into and sometimes completely skipping the more gruesome details such as how she wore a tunic and a hosen tight around her waist with a cord to protect herself from being raped by the prison guards, the humiliating part of the trial that examined Joan's virginity or how she was publicly burned at the stake alive. Except those, perhaps more important, yet less suitable details for young readers, this retelling is pretty accurate and has been simplified for young readers. The illustrations have the visual style of the 15th-century paintings, appropriately.

If I had a daughter, I would buy this for her to learn about a brave woman in the history.

*4 stars for the writing
*5 stars for the illustrations