Absolutely enthralling! I feel this book was not deeply historical but what to me was most important the personalities and spiritual development of the characters. The author follows a British legend in making St. Helena, Constantine's mother, a British princess, daughter of wise old King Coel. She marries Constantius Chlorus ["Paleface"] and has Constantine by him. King Coel prophecies he will be greater than his father, own all the land he can ride on, be a "bliss to his mother", and be "death to his son". Most of what is in the novel about Helena's life in Britain through the years the author fictionalized. The novel follows all three and it turns out as prophesied. Helena is set aside for the daughter of the Roman Emperor since Contantius' ambition is to be emperor. He finally reigns for a short time and is very mild against Christians during the "Great Persecution". Constantine spends many years in the army under the Eastern Emperor, Galerius. But he and the stalwart Favonius make a harrowing journey across the whole of the Empire to return to Britain. Helena has become Christian. At Constantius' deathbed the three reunite and there is a touching scene where he names Constantine as successor. Helena goes to the Holy Land in search of the "living wood", the Cross. I loved the banter among the soldiers before Battle of Milvian Bridge. Sharp, incisive writing, very descriptive; I felt like I could have known these people. Christianity is a theme but it's not treated in a saccharine manner.

Highly recommended. Arguably, the author's masterpiece. ( )

Well the funny thing is that the blurb says "the renowned novelist Louis De Wohl", when in reality I get the feeling that many avid readers never even heard about De Wohl.

He wrote many historical novels, most of them about the lives of saints. He was catholic and his faith transpires from his books, however always in an elegant and open-minded way. He includes beautiful pages of philosophical and theological dialogue between charachters.

"The living wood" is considered one of his best works. It tells the story of Helen, mother of Emperor Constantin, who is said to have influenced her son into first protecting Christians within the Roman Empire and then later make Christianity an officially tolerated religion with the Milan Edict in 313 ad. We know he used and promoted Christianity as a tool to better rule his Empire, and thanks to Constantin, the Catholic Church became as huge as it did. What we don't know is whether he ended up actually sharing the Christian faith or not.

I read the Italian version of it and the Italian title translates to "The tree of life". Luckily, this book has nothing to do with the dreadful Terence Malick movie.

No one knows a lot about Saint Helen. We dont even know for sure where she was from. De Wohl makes her a princess, daughter of one of the last Celtic kings. Although this is just one possibility, De Wohl is great at mixing his own inventions and assumptions with the facts that we actually do know about the history of those times. The technique he uses is to show his charachters in brief glimpses through a long chronological evolution, so that by the end of the book we have a good sense of their entire lifetime and the defining moments of their llives.

The "living wood" in the novel is, at least, two things: the sacred wood In the old Celtic tradition, and the wood of the holy cross, from which the branches of Christianity grew. According to a legend, Saint Helen went to Jerusalem in search of the "true" cross where Christ was crucified, and she found it. De Wohl happily buys into the legend and includes that into his story.

I loved the historical detail, but readers who are after deep, accurate history are not going to enjoy this book. The main strength of the novel is actually to be found in the emotional currents that link its charachters. Perhaps this is ultimately the reason why De Wohl is not that renowned, after all, because it would be so easy to dismiss his work as historic soap opera. Or, even worse, label it as "Christian fiction". And many probably did.

But I feel there is much more to De Wohl. To me, this is historical fiction at its best.
( )

Well the funny thing is that the blurb says "the renowned novelist Louis De Wohl", when in reality I get the feeling that many avid readers never even heard about De Wohl.

He wrote many historical novels, most of them about the lives of saints. He was catholic and his faith transpires from his books, however always in an elegant and open-minded way. He includes beautiful pages of philosophical and theological dialogue between charachters.

"The living wood" is considered one of his best works. It tells the story of Helen, mother of Emperor Constantin, who is said to have influenced her son into first protecting Christians within the Roman Empire and then later make Christianity an officially tolerated religion with the Milan Edict in 313 ad. We know he used and promoted Christianity as a tool to better rule his Empire, and thanks to Constantin, the Catholic Church became as huge as it did. What we don't know is whether he ended up actually sharing the Christian faith or not.

I read the Italian version of it and the Italian title translates to "The tree of life". Luckily, this book has nothing to do with the dreadful Terence Malick movie.

No one knows a lot about Saint Helen. We dont even know for sure where she was from. De Wohl makes her a princess, daughter of one of the last Celtic kings. Although this is just one possibility, De Wohl is great at mixing his own inventions and assumptions with the facts that we actually do know about the history of those times. The technique he uses is to show his charachters in brief glimpses through a long chronological evolution, so that by the end of the book we have a good sense of their entire lifetime and the defining moments of their llives.

The "living wood" in the novel is, at least, two things: the sacred wood In the old Celtic tradition, and the wood of the holy cross, from which the branches of Christianity grew. According to a legend, Saint Helen went to Jerusalem in search of the "true" cross where Christ was crucified, and she found it. De Wohl happily buys into the legend and includes that into his story.

I loved the historical detail, but readers who are after deep, accurate history are not going to enjoy this book. The main strength of the novel is actually to be found in the emotional currents that link its charachters. Perhaps this is ultimately the reason why De Wohl is not that renowned, after all, because it would be so easy to dismiss his work as historic soap opera. Or, even worse, label it as "Christian fiction". And many probably did.

But I feel there is much more to De Wohl. To me, this is historical fiction at its best.
( )

Based on the old legend that Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, was a British princess --I understand current opinion thinks she was a Dalmatian bargilrl.