Joan of Arc as she has never been seen: ugly, corpulent, victim of her father's abuse, lethal warrior and empowered woman of action. Asian-American writer Katherine J.

Chen surprisingly rewrites the story of the French heroine and saint using her own experience of abuse. The novelist points out that to create her fictional Joan, “a great challenge,” (she has had to be realistic with the historical Joan) “Visions play a very important role in Juana's story, but it is very difficult to incorporate them in a novel.”