Book Review: Pope Joan

I just finished reading a really good book. My uncle had recommended it to my mom who recommended it to me. It's called "Pope Joan" by Donna Woolfolk Cross.

Synopsis: (from amazon.com)

For a thousand years her existence has been denied. She is the legend that will not die–Pope Joan, the ninth-century woman who disguised herself as a man and rose to become the only female ever to sit on the throne of St. Peter. Now in this riveting novel, Donna Woolfolk Cross paints a sweeping portrait of an unforgettable heroine who struggles against restrictions her soul cannot accept.

Brilliant and talented, young Joan rebels against medieval social strictures forbidding women to learn. When her brother is brutally killed during a Viking attack, Joan takes up his cloak–and his identity–and enters the monastery of Fulda. As Brother John Anglicus, Joan distinguishes herself as a great scholar and healer. Eventually, she is drawn to Rome, where she becomes enmeshed in a dangerous web of love, passion, and politics. Triumphing over appalling odds, she finally attains the highest office in Christendom–wielding a power greater than any woman before or since. But such power always comes at a price . . .

I was really pleasantly surprised by this book... the storyline was great, but what was even more surprising to me was that it might actually be true... there may have actually been a Pope Joan. In the afterward, the author walks you through what was fact and what was fiction... it was very surprising to me how much of this is likely true. I loved her tenacity and stubbornness... and her pure love of learning. This book is definitely worth reading!