Silence is the most important novel of the acclaimed Japanese author Shusaku Endo. It caused a major controversy in Japan following its publication in 1967. A Japanese Catholic, Endo tells the story of two seventeenth-century missionaries attempting to shore up the oppressed Japanese Christian movement. Father Rodriguez has come to Japan to find the truth behind unthinkable rumors 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. ‘This is a masterpiece. There can be no higher praise.’ — Daily Telegraph ‘One of the finest novels of our time.’ — Graham Greene ‘Superb and harrowing — his masterpiece.’ — Observer ‘A marvelous book . . . Shusaku Endo is giving deep thought to the most basic problems of truth and how in exchanging it among ourselves we misconstruct its nature at every step.’ — Spectator ‘A remarkable work . . . somber, delicate and startlingly empathetic.’ — John Updike, New Yorker ‘One of the finest historical novels written by anyone, anywhere . . . Flawless’ — David Mitchell, Booker Prize-nominated author of Number9dream, Clouds