Helena

Description

Helena - the intelligent, horse-mad daughter of a British chieftain - is thrown into marriage with the man who will onday become the Roman Emperor Constantius. Forced to leave home for lands unknown, she spends her adulthood seeking truth in the faiths, mythologies, and philosophies of the declining ancient world, and becomes initiated into Christianity just as it is recognised as the religion of the Roman Empire. Helena - the novel that Evelyn Waugh considered to be his favourite and most ambitious work - deftly traverses the forces of corruption, treachery, enlightenment, and political intrigue of imperial Rome as it brings an inspiring heroine to life. 

Reviews

"Helena may be read on two levels of appreciation: As bright entertainment or as a deceptively profound commentary. On both levels it's a superlatively well done book." 

- Chicago Tribune