Silence

SILENCE is the most important novel of the acclaimed Japanese author Shusaku Endo. A Japanese Catholic, Endo tells the story of two seventeenth-century missionaries attempting to shore up the oppressed Japanese Christian movement. Father Rodrigues has come to Japan to find the truth behind unthinkable rumours that his famous teacher Ferreira has renounced his faith. But after his arrival he discovers that the only way to help the brutally persecuted Christians may be to apostatize himself. - SILENCE caused considerable controversy in Japan on its publication in 1967. - Martin Scorsese is currently working on a film version of the novel. - Having won of many of Japan's major literary prizes, Endo's work has been published in twenty-eight languages.