The Spear: A Novel

Louis de Wohl, earlier Ludwig von Wohl (January 24, 1903 - June 2, 1961), was a German-born Catholic author who rose to international fame with the 1955 novel The Spear. He had also served as an astrologer for the British intelligence agency MI5 during World War II. His later novels are literary hagiographies of notable Roman Catholic saints and of different periods of the Bible.
Born in Berlin to a poor Catholic family, with a Hungarian father and Austrian mother, both of Jewish descent, he emigrated to England in 1935 due to his objections to the Nazi regime. Working as an astrologer for MI5 during World War II, he was recruited initially by Sir Charles Hambro, then running the Special Operations Executive, to devise black propaganda for use against Germany. In May 1941 he was sent to America to contribute to astrological magazines and newspapers which at the time were using articles by astrologers favourable to Nazi Germany. He returned to England in February 1942.
Wohl published many articles, lectured against Germany, and gave many interviews to the press. Sixteen of de Wohl's popular pre-war novels were the basis of movies, one of the best known being the 1934 comedy classic Die englische Heirat (The English Marriage).
During the war, Wohl had become increasingly religious, and he forged a successful post-war career, writing novels that treat of Roman Catholic Church history and the lives of the saints, including St. Benedict and St. Francis of Assissi, and of different periods of the Bible.
De Wohl died in Switzerland 1961 aged 58.