Summary and Reviews of Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross

Media Reviews

Glamour Cross' drama draws predictable conclusions about the way a woman might handle power, but given the certain punishment that awaits Joan should anyone discover her secret, this cross-dressing saga is also a page turner.

Orlando Sentinel Cross succeeds admirably, grounding her fast-moving tale in a wealth of rich historical detail. If Joan wasn't pope, she should have been.

Los Angeles Times Book Review No one knows for sure if Pope Joan, or Pope John Anglicus as she called herself, really existed--.After finishing Donna Cross' novelization of Joan's life, one may want her to be a real person, only because it is so gratifying to read about those rare heroes whose strength of vision enables them to ignore the almost overpowering messages of their own historical periods.

Morning Star Telegram In her first novel, Donna Woolfolk Cross..illuminates the Dark Ages and its attendant milieu of barbarism, politics, bigotry, and religion. Pope Joan also is a story of passion and faith - and a reminder that something never change, only the stage and the players do.

Library Journal Cross vividly creates the 9th-century world, fraught with dangers from Vikings and Saracens, bloody warfare between brothers for political power, and palace intrigue for political favors. Above all, she brings to life a brilliant, compassionate woman who has to deny her gender to satisfy her desire for learning. Highly recommended.

School Library Journal YAs, especially girls, will follow the adventures of this amazing heroine with fascination, and at the same time will learn much about life in the Middle Ages, and about the history of this tumultuous period just after the death of Charlemagne.

Publishers Weekly In this colorful, richly imagined novel, Cross ably inspires a suspension of disbelief, pulling off the improbable feat of writing a romance starring a pregnant pope.

Kirkus Reviews A remarkable woman uses her considerable intellect—and more than a little luck—to rise from humble origins to become the only female Pope, in this breakneck adventure from newcomer Cross ...... No lack of action here, but also not much food for thought. Still, what seems a too facile rendering of a complex story might certainly appeal as light summer reading.

 Rebecca Fraser, Author of The Brontës Brings the savage ninth century vividly to life in all its alien richness. An enthralling, scholarly historical novel.