From 1948 to 1952, the lives of Trappist monk, Thomas Merton, and British novelist, Evelyn Waugh, were closely intertwined. During these years, Waugh became enthusiastic about American Catholicism, and agreed to edit Merton's autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain. Presenting samples of their deep, warm, and witty correspondence, Mary Frances Coady supplies context to this unexpected meeting of the minds between Merton the emerging spiritual master and Waugh the renowned man of letters and conflicted penitent, men whose paths diverged when the Second Vatican Council brought sweeping changes to Catholicism.