The Book of Joan by Lidia Yuknavitch review – the future is medieval

From Books | The Guardian:

Joan of Arc and Christine de Pizan are reimagined in a post-apocalyptic dystopia, in this compellingly ambitious examination of gender, semiotics and warfare.

One premise of The Book of Joan is that the 21st century, for all its technological advances, has returned us to pre-modern levels of brutality and strife. There are children fighting once again; there are religious crusades; land is seized at will. Yuknavitch takes three real people from medieval France and reimagines them in a post-apocalyptic future.

The narrative mode is to show through dramatic, often moving scenes, and then to tell, reflecting on them analytically. This disjunction can be jarring, but it’s knowingly done, because the book’s style is itself a theme.

Additions For October

August's books arrived safe and sound in September so here is the order for October:

• Absolute Power: The Real Lives of Europe's Most Infamous Rulers by Chad Denton
• Joan of Arc: By Herself and Her Witnesses by Régine Pernoud
• The Retrial of Joan of Arc: The Evidence for Her Vindication by Regine Pernoud
• The Templars: Knights of Christ by Regine Pernoud
• Defending the City of God: A Medieval Queen, the First Crusades, and the Quest for Peace in Jerusalem by Sharan Newman
• Mediaeval Prince of Wales: Life of Gruffudd Ap Cynan by Simon D Evans
• Lost Capital of Byzantium: The History of Mistra and the Peloponnese by Steven Runciman
• The King in the North: The Life and Times of Oswald of Northumbria by Max Adams
• The Last Templar: The Tragedy of Jacques De Molay, Last Grand Master of the Temple by Alain Demurger
• The Northern Earldoms: Orkney and Caithness from AD 870 to 1470 by Barbara Crawford

A number of these books I have read in the past but have never before added to my own personal library - until now.