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This is a simple and simply great novel. Beyond the ironies and wit (always substantial with Waugh), we have a perfect examination of the grittiness of Christianity and the understated holiness of a saint.

A great work need not be lengthy; it need not have the psychological oddities and suffering that appears to pass for literature today. Helena offers two major insights: firstly, that the Christian faith is radically different from others, for it states bald facts: Christ was crucified & Christ rose from the dead. It happened at a specific time, in a specific place. The cross was not a mere symbol or phantasm, but solid wood. Secondly, that sanctity need not be a showy, extravagant affair. Waugh's conclusion about Helena is what we can hope for ourselves: "She had done what only the saints succeed in doing; what indeed constitutes their patent of sanctity. She had completely conformed to the will of God."

There is more of course: Waugh's amusingly compelling portrait of Constantine's egoism; a great filling-in of the unknowns of Helena's life; the choice not to write a direct account of Helena's conversion. It is all excellent, but it achieves brilliance in accomplishing its two major objectives: the in-the-dirt reality of Christianity, and the simple sanctity of Helena.