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Contains some witty bits, and makes Helena an interesting and likable character. Trashes Constantine unmercifully and probably beyond the reasonable bounds of cynicism. Waugh's Roman Catholic doctrine of relics is presented winsomely, if somewhat heavy handedly, but it did not persuade this Protestant one bit. The best parts of the book are the passages that require a bit of historical knowledge to get the joke, as when Constantine leaves Rome to pope Sylvester, and one of the priests present says, "I rather wish we had it in writing", and another says, "Oh, we will"; or when Lactantius says, nodding to a pet gibbon, "A man like that might make it his business to write down the martyrs and excuse the persecutors. He might be refuted again and again but what he wrote would remain in people's minds when the refutations were quite forgotten."

A short read. I gave Waugh a second chance with this book, which came recommended to me by a dear friend. But I don't think I'll give him a third. (I tried Brideshead earlier, and found it was insufferable.)