Maid and the Queen, The

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On April 2, 2012, in the 600th year since Joan of Arc's birth, Viking will publish THE MAID AND THE QUEEN: The Secret History of Joan of Arc by Nancy Goldstone (ISBN: 978-0-670-02333-2 / $26.95).

Starting with her marvelous Four Queens, Goldstone has taken the stories of long-forgotten but remarkable women and created spellbinding, informative histories. Now, in this mesmerizing account, THE MAID AND THE QUEEN, she takes one of the Middle Age's most fascinating woman, Joan of Arc, and shows that behind every great woman there is-what else?-another great woman. As Nancy has shown, "History makes a lot more sense when you put the women back in."

Politically astute, ambitious and beautiful, Yolande of Aragon, Queen of Sicily, was the most powerful woman of the Middle Ages; without her there may well not have been a Joan of Arc. Trained by her parents and her formidable mother-in-law, Marie of Blois, Yolande took matters into her own hands to help save France. THE MAID AND THE QUEEN shows how she tirelessly plotted to hold together the oft-divided party attempting to defeat the English and Burgundian.

When all seemed lost and the dauphin Charles felt sure he was doomed to defeat, Joan of Arc appeared from a province ruled by Yolande. Many people at the time claimed to have divine visions yet it was this particular maid who was escorted through enemy territory to meet the heir to the throne. Was it the hand of God that moved Joan of Arc-or was it Yolande of Aragon?

THE MAID AND THE QUEEN is a riveting account of a country riven by civil war and invasion, and of two women who offered everything to win victory.

About the Author
Nancy Goldstone is the author of Four Queens: The Provencal Sisters Who Ruled Europe and The Lady Queen: The Notorious Reign of Joanna I, Queen of Naples, Jerusalem, and Sicily. She has also co-authored five books with her husband Lawrence Goldstone. She lives in Westport, CT