A retelling of the story of St. Helena which has some support from
tradition, leans on the picturesque in preference to the plausible
(the author), is not intended as hagiography but as entertainment
and permits some "wilful anachronism"- our Helena here bounces in
with such expressions as "What a sell". For all of this, there is
no irreverence and Waugh's closing lines on this story of the woman
who- through a dream- was to find guidance to the Cross on which
Christ was crucified conveys a message of conviction and of hope.
This life, which began in surmise, ended in legend, follows the
accepted assumption that she was born in Britain, went with
Constantius (dull when drunk and sly when sober, so her father
said) to Europe where Constantius was to head up a great army,
leave her for other women, and summarily announce his marriage to a
second wife. Many years after the accession of her son,
Constantine, as Emperor of the World, his black moods and black
years of terrorization and death, Helena was to come to Rome, start
on the pilgrimage which ended in her discovery of the Cross. An
intellectual invention which is not without its spiritual
significance, this still does not subdue the occasional bright
badinage, the wit which is a worldly one, although it will be the
name that will carry this to its audience. (Kirkus Reviews)
The Empress Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, made the historic pilgrimage to Palestine, found pieces of wood from the true Cross, and built churches at Bethlehem and Olivet. Her life coincided with one of the great turning-points of history: the recognition of Christianity as the religion of the Roman Empire. The enormous conflicting forces of the age, and the corruption, treachery, and madness of Imperial Rome combine to give Evelyn Waugh the theme for one of his most arresting and memorable novels.
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