''A Time to Keep Silence'' (1953) is a travel book by British author

Patrick Leigh Fermor Sir Patrick Michael Leigh Fermor (11 February 1915 – 10 June 2011) was an English writer, scholar, soldier and polyglot. He played a prominent role in the Cretan resistance during the Second World War, and was widely seen as Britain's greates ...

. It describes Fermor's sojourns in monasteries across Europe, and is praised by William Dalrymple as a "sublime masterpiece". This was an early publication from the

Queen Anne Press The Queen Anne Press (logo stylized QAP) is a small publisher (originally a private press). History It was created in 1951 by Lord Kemsley, proprietor of ''The Sunday Times'', to publish the works of contemporary authors. In 1952, as a wedding ...

, a small private press, created in 1951 by Lord Kemsley, proprietor of the '' Sunday Times''. In 1952 Kemsley made Leigh Fermor's friend Ian Fleming its managing director.Pearson, John. ''The Life of Ian Fleming'', p.188. McGraw-Hill, 1966. The press concentrated on producing finely printed and bound editions, often with small limitations. ''A Time to Keep Silence'' was printed in a

limited edition The terms special edition, limited edition, and variants such as deluxe edition, or collector's edition, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints, r ...

of 500 copies with illustrations by

John Craxton John Leith Craxton RA, (3 October 1922 – 17 November 2009) was an English painter. He was sometimes called a neo-Romantic artist but he preferred to be known as a "kind of Arcadian". Biography Career John was the son of musician Harold ...

. After revision, an open edition was published by John Murray in 1957. This was republished by Penguin in 1988 with a new foreword written in 1982. The monasteries discussed include the

Abbey of Saint Wandrille Fontenelle Abbey or the Abbey of St. Wandrille is a Benedictine monastery in the commune of Rives-en-Seine. It was founded in 649 near Caudebec-en-Caux in Seine-Maritime, Normandy, France. First foundation It was founded by Wandregisel or ...

Solesmes Abbey Solesmes Abbey or St. Peter's Abbey, Solesmes (''Abbaye Saint-Pierre de Solesmes'') is a Benedictine monastery in Solesmes (Sarthe, France), famous as the source of the restoration of Benedictine monastic life in the country under Dom Prosper Gu� ...

and La Grande Trappe. He also describes a visit to the abandoned rock monasteries of

Cappadocia Cappadocia or Capadocia (; tr, Kapadokya), is a historical region in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It largely is in the provinces Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde. According to Herodotus, in the time of the Ionian Re ...

near Urgub. At St Wandrille he initially experienced a strong sense of depression, restlessness, insomnia and loneliness but this 'miserable bridge-passage' cleared after a few days. He grew to admire the scholarship and learning of the Benedictine Order there and benefited from the rhythm of the daily cycle. In contrast, he found the life at the

Trappist The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance ( la, Ordo Cisterciensis Strictioris Observantiae, abbreviated as OCSO) and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a ...

monastery incomprehensibly austere. He concludes the essay with a brief overview of English monasticism. The title is from the Book of Ecclesiastes ().

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Time to Keep Silence, A 1953 non-fiction books British travel books Christian monastic literature NYRB Classics