Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

Loved this book! I always like strong female characters, and Joan is definitely that. Plus, there is a great love story. Plus it is a great feminist book, with a fictional howl of protest against the patriarchy of the Catholic church.
There is some historical evidence for a woman of the 9th century who posed as a man, rose through the Church hierarchy to the Papacy and was only discovered when she died giving birth. The evidence seems thin to me, but not completely impossible. It is intriguing.
This author did the same thing I did in my novel The Saint's Mistress: took a little-known (and, in this case, possibly apocryphal) female historical character and made up a life for her. Very well done. My only complaint is that Joan is a little too perfect; I'd have liked her to be a little more flawed.