‘A book which may well prove to be of permanent interest in the history of religious experience. ‘A remarkable book, a classic of its kind, written in a vivid, rich and alert style which ranges from crisp vernacular to passionate eloquence, full of picturesque incident and passing at times into religious ecstasy.’ ‘ The Seven Storey Mountain is a book one reads with a pencil so as to make it one’s own.’

It is written with the profound insight of a man who has seen himself clearly. The Seven Storey Mountain tells the story of Merton's search for faith and peace in a world which first fascinated and then appalled him. The book recounts the spiritual and intellectual journey that led Merton not only to espouse the Roman Catholic faith, but to become a Trappist monk. This momentous experience convinced him that the silence of the Cistercian Order was what he craved. The Seven Story Mountain, published in 1948, is the autobiography of Thomas Merton, which he completed when he was only 31 years old. However, when he was twenty-seven he made a retreat to a Trappist monastery in Kentucky. With his baptism he began entertaining thoughts of monasticism but his desire to enter the priesthood in a Franciscan monastery came to nothing, and he remained a lay teaching member of the order for some time. Gradually Merton recognized his need for faith and became a Catholic. His year at Clare College, Cambridge, was indulgent, and although Columbia University to which he went next suited his temperament better, it did nothing to assuage his restlessness. Travelling in his early years with his artist father in the United States, France and England, Thomas Merton prided himself on his worldly accomplishments.

The complete and unedited edition of Thomas Merton's famous autobiography, one of the greatest works of spiritual pilgrimage ever written.

The 7 storey mountain