Helena

By: Evelyn Waugh

Narrated by: Simon Prebble

Evelyn Waugh's personal favorite of his novels and "a superlatively well done book" (Chicago Tribune) set in the age of Emperor Constantine.

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

Critic reviews

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

"In Helena, the play of words and the fireworks, the exquisite descriptions of landscapes, and even the finished portraits of the heroine, her husband, and her son, are always subordinate to the author's broad vision of the mixed anguish and hope with which the world of Constantine's time was filled."—New York Herald Tribune

A wonderful hagiography

Not as beautifully written as Brideshead Revisited, but it was nonetheless very compelling and richly written. I loved Simon Prebble’s performance.

A fun and informative historical novel

A fun and informative historical novel about St. Helena. I confess, I had never heard of her before reading this, but I am now intrigued and must learn more!

Wonderful imagining of an historical episode

I loved the book. And I did enjoy the narration as I have the other books I have listened to that Simon Preble has narrated

Waugh’s Historical novel.

Those who enjoy Robert Graves “I, Claudius” and C.S. Lewis’s “Till We Have Faces” will find this novel very interesting.

Best of Waugh

I love Evelyn Waugh’s books and style. This is my favorite as it is a story of the searcher who has hope till the day she dies.