The Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage

The Life You Save May Be Your Own – A Literary Pilgrimage of Faith

This compelling book explores the lives and works of four modern American Catholic writers—Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, Flannery O’Connor, and Walker Percy—who turned to literature to wrestle with questions of faith. Dubbed the School of the Holy Ghost, these writers corresponded, influenced one another, and used storytelling to navigate their spiritual journeys in the complex world of postwar America.

Paul Elie masterfully weaves their stories into a literary pilgrimage, tracing their struggles, inspirations, and the ways Catholicism shaped their writing. From Merton’s monastic reflections to O’Connor’s sharp Southern fiction, their works continue to challenge and transform readers, showing how faith and literature intersect in unexpected ways.

A must-read for Catholics, literature lovers, and seekers of truth, The Life You Save May Be Your Own reveals the enduring power of words to illuminate faith, identity, and the human experience.