Davis
Bunn: The period when Constantine became the first
Christian emperor is one about which so much has been written, and yet so
little detail is known. No one knows for certain where his mother, Helena – the
main character in The Pilgrim – was born. There are three main legends, and I
used the one that has the greatest sense of historical resonance, that she was
British, and her father ruled one of the provinces taken over by the Romans.
Her husband was a general who met Helena in the local market and fell in love
at first sight.
Q:
What is the appeal of writing about a historical figure? What was one special
challenge you faced in doing so?
First and foremost, Helena is a saint in the eyes of
the Catholic church. Her son, Emperor Constantine, was the first Roman leader
to convert to Christianity. His death marked the moment when Christians were
freed from persecution. Constantine was led to faith by his mother. The Pilgrim
is her story.
While I am a fervent evangelical Protestant, my wife
is Catholic. My mother is a Catholic convert. As is my sister, who has raised
her two daughters as Catholic. So part of what I wanted to do here was to grow
closer to the heritage that these dear people treasure. Their faith has had
such an impact on my own life. It was important
that I use this story and this opportunity to create something that would honor
their perspective on faith. I also wanted to share with readers the enormous
life lessons we can learn from the lives of the saints.
So many, many different issues came up as a result
of this quest. It proved to be a beautiful and intense growing experience.
Although this book is not particularly long, the actual writing took as long as
some of my much bigger books. Part of this was honing the story so their faith,
and their history, was honored, but done from a foundation that reflected my
own personal walk in faith.
My hope, my fervent prayer, is that the story will
resonate with readers from both faith communities.
Q:
The end of The Pilgrim leaves the reader wanting more. Will you revisit this
story down the road?
I am working on a second book, The Fragment, which
is scheduled for publication in the spring of 2016. The Fragment carries some
of the concepts from The Pilgrim into the early twentieth century, when the U.S.
came to possess a reliquary with a supposed component of Jesus’s cross. It ends
in a vignette that happens today, when a couple travels to Rome.
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