Includes "reading group discussion guide."

"For a thousand years her existence has been denied - Pope Joan, the woman who disguised herself as a man and rose to rule Christianity. Now this compelling novel animates restrictions her soul cannot accept. When her older brother dies in a Viking attack, the brilliant young Joan assumes his identity and enters a Benedictine monastery where, as a Brother John Anglicus, she distinguishes herself as a scholar and healer. Eventually drawn to Rome, she becomes enmeshed in a dangerous mix of powerful passion and explosive politics that threatens her life even as it elevates her to the highest throne in the Western world." (Book Cover)