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The King was going mad. So begins Polly Schoyer Brook's account of one of history's most compelling stories and most popular heroines- Joan of Arc. Brooks tells us of a fifteenth-century France ravaged by madness and whose weakling son made a disappointing successor; and of a peasant girl from the countryside who accomplished what appeared to be miracles by rallying the spiritless French nation with sheer motivation and desire to see the rightful king rule. Within little more than a year after her astounding triumphs- uniting the nation and securing the throne for Charles VII with her victory over the English at Orleans - nineteen-year-old Joan was imprisoned on charges of witchcraft and sorcery, tried with heresy, and burned at the stake. Polly Schoyer Brook's detailed account unveils the spirited woman behind the heroine who became a patron saing and continues to inspire courage and faith, even beyond her death.
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