Sometime around 1412, Joan of Arc was born in Domremy, France. It was a small village, and Joan grew up in a peasant family. Although she was known for her skill and her hard work, she seemed fairly ordinary except for her extreme piousness. In 1425, around age 13, Joan started hearing "voices" which she claimed were the voices of Saint Catherine, Saint Margaret, and Saint Michael. She said these voices commanded her to aid the Dauphin, Charles, in his fight against England and Burgundy, and to see him crowned as the King of France at Reims. Reims was the traditional location where French kings were crowned. But because Reims was in English hands, Charles had not been able to hold a coronation ceremony yet, though his father had been dead for years.When Joan went to Vaucouleurs to offer her aid, she was initially laughed away. In February of 1429, however, she was granted an audience with the Dauphin. He was superstitious and in dire straits in his battle against the English and Burgundians, so he sent her with a contingent of troops to aid in the Siege of Orleans, a long stalemate in which the English had surrounded the city of Orleans with fortresses. Joan followed sudden commands from her voices and stumbled upon a battle between English and French forces. Rallying the French troops, she drove the English out of fort after fort, decisively ending the siege and earning herself popularity throughout France as the miraculous "Maid of Orleans."

Mark Twain's work on Joan of Arc is titled in full Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, the Sieur Louis de Conte who is identified further as Joan's page and secretary.

"Regarded by many as the most luminous example of Mark Twain's work, this fictional biography of Joan of Arc was purportedly written by Joan's page and secretary -- Sieur Louis de Conté. (Twain's alter ego even shared the author's same initials -- S. L. C.) Told from the viewpoint of this lifelong friend, the historical novel is a panorama of stirring scenes and marvel of pageantry -- from Joan's early childhood in Domremy and her touching story of the voices, to the fight for Orleans, the taking of Tourelles and Jargeau, and the splendid march to Rheims.But above all, the work is an amazing record that disclosed Twain's unrestrained admiration of the French heroine's nobility of character. Throughout his life, she remained his favorite historical figure -- ""the most innocent, the most lovely, the most adorable child the ages have produced.""Completed when the author was nearly sixty, the book reveals a splendidly expressive side of Twain, who wrote, ""I like the Joan of Arc best of all my books; & it is the best; I know it perfectly well. And besides, it furnished me seven times the pleasure afforded me by any of the others: 12 years of preparation & 2 years of writing. The others needed no preparation, & got none.""Matchless in its workmanship, this lesser work will charm -- and delightfully surprise -- admirers and devotees of the great American author"

A lengthy historical novel written because Joan of Arc was Clemens' favorite historical character. He stated: "It means more to me than anything I have ever undertaken." Clemens devoted twelve years to researching and writing this novel. Harper's Magazine serialized it first in three monthly installments (April 1895-April 1896) without his name. He used the pseudonym Sieur Louis de Conte to prevent the work's not being taken seriously under his own name, while the name of the translator, Jean Francois Alden, is referred to as a pun on John Alden. This edition contains many of the fine drawings that had appeared in the periodical. (From "A Centennial For Tom Sawyer")

Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, by the Sieur Louis de Conte is an 1896 novel by Mark Twain which recounts the life of Joan of Arc. It is Twain's last completed novel, published when he was 61 years old. Mark Twain's work on Joan of Arc is titled in full Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, by the Sieur Louis de Conte who is identified further as Joan's page and secretary. The work is fictionally presented as a translation from the manuscript by Jean Francois Alden, or, in the words of the published book, "Freely Translated out of the Ancient French into Modern English from the Original Unpublished Manuscript in the National Archives of France". De Conte is a fictionalized version of Joan of Arc's page Louis de Contes, and provides narrative unity to the story. He is presented as an individual who was with Joan during the three major phases of her life - as a youth in Domremy, as the commander of Charles' army on military campaign, and as a defendant at the trial in Rouen. The book is presented as a translation by Alden of de Conte's memoirs, written in his later years for the benefit of his descendants.

Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc: Regarded by many as the most luminous example of Mark Twain's work, this fictional biography of Joan of Arc was purportedly written by Joan's page and secretary - Sieur Louis de Conté. (Twain's alter ego even shared the author's same initials - S. L. C.) Told from the viewpoint of this lifelong friend, the historical novel is a panorama of stirring scenes and marvel of pageantry - from Joan's early childhood in Domremy and her touching story of the voices, to the fight for Orleans, the taking of Tourelles and Jargeau, and the splendid march to Rheims.

First appearing as an anonymous serial in "Harper's Magazine" in 1895, "Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc" was Mark Twain's final novel and was published as a complete work under his name in 1896. The novel is a stark departure from Twain's usual comic and satirical writings, which is why Twain insisted it initially be published anonymously so that the public would take it seriously. The work is told from the perspective of a fictionalized version of Joan's page, Louis de Conte, and is divided into three parts based on Joan's life: her upbringing, her victorious time as a military commander, and her trial at Rouen. The novel is sympathetic to Joan and suggests that the English deliberately rigged the trial of Joan of Arc to convict her of witchcraft and heresy, a view that recent scholarship seems to support. Twain was deeply fascinated by Joan of Arc for much of his life. He considered "Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc" to be his best and most important work and spent nearly 15 years researching and working on the novel. The result is a work of sincere and engrossing historical fiction. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.