Silence

The magnum opus of Japanese author Shūsaku Endō, Silence is the fictional story of a sixteenth-century Jesuit, Sebastian Rodrigues, who travels to Japan with a fellow priest during a period of extreme Christian persecution. Exterior trials rapidly befall the priests as they evade the authorities and witness the martyrdom of many believers in their care. The turmoil of Rodrigues's interior life soon comes to the fore when he is made to confront the bitter consequences of refusing to renounce the faith. Endō's gripping meditation on sacrifice and betrayal is a haunting account of the demands of Christian life and the trials of conscience amid violent oppression.