Voices: The Final Hours of Joan of Arc

by David Elliott

★★★★ FOUR STARRED REVIEWS! ★★★★ 

Kirkus Best Book / Publishers Weekly Best Book / TheWall Street Journal Best Book 

Bestselling author David Elliott explores how Joan of Arc changed the course of history and remains a figure of fascination centuries after her extraordinary life and death. Joan of Arc gets the Hamilton treatment in this evocative novel.

  • Format: eBook
  • ISBN-13/ EAN: 9780358049159
  • ISBN-10: 0358049156
  • Pages: 208
  • Publication Date: 03/26/2019
  • Carton Quantity: 1
About the Book
About the Author
Excerpts
Reviews
  • About the Book
    ★★★★ FOUR STARRED REVIEWS! ★★★★ 

    Kirkus Best Book / Publishers Weekly Best Book / TheWall Street Journal Best Book 

     

    Bestselling author David Elliott explores how Joan of Arc changed the course of history and remains a figure of fascination centuries after her extraordinary life and death. Joan of Arc gets the Hamilton treatment in this evocative novel.  

     

    Told through medieval poetic forms and in the voices of the people and objects in Joan of Arc’s life, (including her family and even the trees, clothes, cows, and candles of her childhood), Voices offers an unforgettable perspective on an extraordinary young woman. Along the way it explores timely issues such as gender, misogyny, and the peril of speaking truth to power. Before Joan of Arc became a saint, she was a girl inspired. It is that girl we come to know in Voices.

  • About the Author

    David Elliott

    David Elliott is the award-winning author of more than twenty-five books for young people, including the picture books Finn Throws a Fit!  and the New York Times best-selling And Here's to You!. He is the author of the critically acclaimed verse novels, Bull, which received six starred reviews, and Voices: The Final Hours of Joan of Arc, which was shortlisted for The American Library in Paris Book Award and is the recipient of the Claudia Lewis Award for poetry. A native of Ohio, David now lives (and writes) in New Hampshire with his wife and their Dandie Dinmont terrier, Quiggy. Learn more about David by visiting davidelliottbooks.com.

  • Excerpts

    The Candle

    I 

    recall 

    it as if it were 

    yesterday. She was 

    so lovely and young. In 

    her hand I darted and flick- 

    ered away, an ardent lover’s ad- 

    venturing tongue. I had never known 

    such yearning, exciting and risky and 

    cruel. As we walked to the church, I was 

    burning; she was my darling, my future, 

    my fuel. I wanted to set her afire right then. 

    But she was so pure, so chaste; her innocence 

    only increased my desire. Still, I know the 

    dangers of haste. So I watched and I studied 

    and waited, and I saw that her young blood 

    ran hot. She had no idea we were fated. I 

    could name what she craved; she could 

    not. Then in her eye, I caught my 

    reflection. In her eye, I saw my- 

    self shine, and I saw the heat 

    rise on her virgin’s com- 

    plexion. That’s when 

    I knew: She was 

    mine.

    Joan

    I’ve heard it said that when we die 

    the soul discards its useless shell, 

    and our life will flash before our 

    eyes. Is this a gift from Heaven? 

    Or a jinx from deepest Hell? Only 

    the dying know, but what the dying 

    know the dying do not tell. What 

    more the dying know it seems I 

    am about to learn. For when the 

    sun is at its highest, a lusting torch 

    will touch the pyre. The flames will rise. 

    And I will burn. But I have always 

    been afire. With youth. With faith. With 

    truth. And with desire. My name is 

    Joan, but I am called the Maid. My 

    hands are bound behind me. The fire 

    beneath me laid.

    Fire

    I yearn I yearn I yearn my darling 

    I yearn I yearn I yearn

  • Reviews
    A Finalist for the American Library in Paris Book Award  

     

    "Stunning . . . . elegant . . . . arresting . . . . supple and harrowing.” —The Wall Street Journal 

     

    ? "Elliot delivers another hit. . . . [Voices] showcases a gorgeous storytelling style that flows in an effortless fashion. . . . A glorious tribute to a woman who dared, defied, and defended her truth. A must-have."—School Library Journal, STARRED review 

      

    ? “Ethereal, wondering, and poignant. . . . An innovative, entrancing account of a popular figure that will appeal to fans of verse, history, and biography.”—Kirkus, STARRED review 

     

    ? "With stunning lyricism, these poems fashion an enlivened, gripping narrative that addresses themes of gender identity, class and vocation, and innocence and culpability, bringing fresh nuance to an oft-told story."—Publishers Weekly, STARRED review 

     

    ? "Joan’s thoughts are almost conversational, in simple left-justified verse with rhyme skillfully embedded within lines. . . . [A] creative historical account of a young woman who answered a norm-shattering higher call." —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, STARRED review  

     

    "An elegant, spirited introduction to classical poetry and to a woman fighting not just for a cause but for a place in a world that undervalued her voice."—Booklist 

     

    Early praise for Voices: The Final Hours of Joan of Arc: 

     

    "A stunning and innovative reimagining of the life and death of one of history's most badass ladies. Captivating from start to finish and unlike anything I've ever read." —Mackenzi Lee, New York Times best-selling author of The Gentlemen’s Guide to Vice and Virtue 

     

    “By giving Joan of Arc voice, Elliott manages to give her agency and makes her passion, faith, and determination live and breathe on the page. Compelling, engaging, and triumphant, Joan the maiden warrior shines far brighter than her fiery fate.” —Robin LaFevers, New York Times best-selling author of Courting Darkness and the His Fair Assassin trilogy 

     

    “Elliott enchants. Voices will draw a new generation to the mystery of the peasant girl whose conviction and audacity shattered all conceptions of class and gender.” —Kirsten Cappy, Children’s Book Consultant, Curious City 

     

    “Elliott’s exquisite detail and imagery lift this tale of female valor into an almost mystical dimension.” —Pat Lowery Collins, author of The Fattening Hut and Hidden Voices, The Orphan Musicians of Venice 

     

    “The implicit call-to-action in Elliott’s tender but searing novel-in-verse is perhaps the clearest voice of all: the fire within each of us can be an unstoppable force for change in a world that continually seeks to burn what it cannot control.” —Amy Cherrix, Malaprop’s Bookstore 

     

    “This book is a marvel. Each poem is so pure, so intense, so full of story-moving energy that I couldn’t put it down and read the whole book in a gulp. I loved it.” —N. Griffin, author of The Whole Stupid Way We Are 

     

    “A clever and searing page-turner story told by a master.” —Patricia Hruby Powell, author of Loving Vs. Virginia and Josephine

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