Joan of Arc Book Club

Joan of Arc Book Club with image of Joan on horseback reading a book, oblivious to the battle going on around her
  • Free and open to all. (No requirement to be a krewe member!)
  • Books available at Frenchmen Art and Books.
  • Book Club coordinater: Krewe founder Amy Kirk Duvoisin
  • We have planned an in-person discussion of each book, but we may add a second discussion session on Zoom if there’s enough interest. Let us know if you would be interested in a Zoom discussion.
  • Members of the book club voted to select one book about New Orleans history and one book about Joan of Arc this year.
Book cover: Agincourt: Battle of the Scarred King by Michael Livingston 2024
Saturday, Nov. 6, 2026 10 a.m. to noon, location TBA

Michael Livingston, professor of military history at the Citadel, will speak at our 2026 Salon de Jeanne d’Arc Oct. 3. SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 HISTORICAL WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION NON-FICTION CROWN AWARD ‘It’s quite a feat to write an account of England’s most famous battle that makes the reader feel like they’re experiencing history that is fresh, new and exhilarating.’ Dan Snow This groundbreaking study by Mike Livingston, as featured on History Hit’s Agincourt, presents a new interpretation of Henry V’s great victory. From Shakespeare’s ‘band of brothers’ speech to its appearances in numerous films, Agincourt rightfully has a place among a handful of conflicts whose names are immediately recognized around the world. Renowned medieval historian Mike Livingston provides a new look at this famous battle, with a foreword by world famous historic novelist Bernard Cornwell. Agincourt takes us back to the original sources, including the French battle plan that still survives today, to give a new interpretation, one that challenges the traditional site of the battlefield itself. It is a thrilling new history that not only rewrites the battle as we know it, but also provides fresh insights into the men who fought and died there.

Book Cover: Pelican Girls by Julia Malye
Saturday, March 28, 2026 10 a.m. to noon, Croissant d’Or Patisserie (617 Ursuline Ave., map) Book description: Paris, 1720. La Salpêtrière hospital is in crisis: too many occupants, not enough beds. Halfway across the world, France’s colony in the wilds of North America has space to spare and needs families to fill it. So the director of the hospital rounds up nearly a hundred female “volunteers” of childbearing age—orphans, prisoners, and mental patients—to be shipped to New Orleans.
Book cover: Blood Red, Sister Rose by Thomas Keneally
In-Person Discussion: Saturday August 1, 2026 10 a.m. to noon, The Columns, 3811 St. Charles Ave. (map) Book description: We selected this book because this is the book on which film-maker Baz Luhrmann is basing his script of his forthcoming film about Joan of Arc! A gritty, authentic retelling of Joan of Arc as a bewildered peasant girl hearing divine voices, focusing on her military triumphs, such as lifting the Siege of Orleans, and the tragic arc of her transformation, challenging legends with historical realism. (Author Thomas Keneally won a Booker Prize for his novel Schindler’s Ark, which was the basis for the award-winning movie Schindler’s List.)