I read another historical fiction work this past year that I want to highly recommend to you – Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz.. This one isn’t as easy to read as A Thousand Splendid Suns but it was even more interesting to me and really bolstered my faith. It’s a little hard to get into at first and there’s no shortage of violence and drunken orgies. So, be warned. But, especially if you enjoy historical fiction, read it!

It’s the story of a young noble in Nero’s Rome who falls in love with a young woman who is a Christian. Jesus had only recently been crucified, and it’s fascinating to see what “being a Christian” meant in that time and place. Hint: Almost nothing like what we know it! There hadn’t been council after council picking apart the nuances of the Scripture, deciding on the most minute points of theology. It was raw. This man named Jesus was God’s own Son and died for us a few years ago! Believe He has paid your sins and you are accepted by God!

You might remember that Rome in the time of Nero was very decadent and godless. The protagonists’ love story is placed in this very sensual Roman culture, and it’s anything but boring. The characters and time period will came alive to you. It’s so much better than reading it from a textbook! I looked into the accuracy of the characters and events after finishing the book and I was pleased to see the author was very faithful to historical sources when constructing his tale. The apostles Peter and Paul are even characters in the book, and I find their words and actions to be consistent with what I know from Scripture.

Nero’s reign was also the time during which much of Rome was burned. You’ll recall Christians were blamed and sent to their deaths in horrific ways. Being thrown to the lions was one of the tamer ways to go, my friends! These parts were hard to read, but I couldn’t stop. It leaps off the page. It makes you question what you would have done and felt were you in their place. Their faith will build yours.

Quo Vadis is a Latin phrase that means, “Where are you going?” It’s from John 13:36, where Simon Peter asks Jesus this question. The author is Polish and the novel was originally published in 1896 in Polish, not Latin, as you might expect from the title. Perhaps I was especially interested by this book because I teach Latin and am interested the times of the Romans, but I’m fairly sure I liked it more because of its historical account of the early days of Christianity. For that reason, I think many of you will enjoy it, too.

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