YOUNG JOAN by Barbara Dana (HarperCollins:...

YOUNG JOAN by Barbara Dana (HarperCollins: $17.95; 384 pp.). The wonder of this novel about Joan of Arc is that what easily could have emerged as preachy, didactic or--in this age that no longer believes in the miraculous--downright silly is, instead, wise and profoundly moving. There is a fine authorial intelligence at work here that captures not only the spirit of the time, which provides the novel’s richly realized historical setting, but also the spirit of Joan’s simple and inspiring faith as well. Author Barbara Dana decided to tell the story in Joan’s own first-person voice, a difficult decision because it raises the threefold problem of finding a style that avoids anachronism, sounds historically authentic and is accessible to modern ears. That she has solved these problems so successfully may be due in part to the fact that she is an actress as well as an author and is, therefore, accustomed to finding the right voices for characters. In larger part, it is also surely the product of a profound empathy with the Maid of Orleans, whom she herself has portrayed (in a production of “Joan of Lorraine”). In any event, the voice that the reader hears is remarkably convincing: calm, simple and ineffably sweet, while the story it tells--though lengthy for adolescent ears accustomed to sound bites--is captivating and timeless.