French novelist

In his latest book 'Johanne', novelist Marc Graciano describes the long journey made by French heroine Joan of Arc in 1429 between Vaucouleurs in the north-east of the country to Chinon in the west when she was aged around 17. Little is known about events during this trip, and the French author uses the journey to conjure up a wonderful secular approach to the world, one that emerges from the meetings the young woman has along the way. This book confirms Graciano as a great writer about journeys and mystery, in a novel which poses the question as to what can still be sacred in a world without god. Sébastien Omont assesses the work.