Deep River

Endo's most probing novel since his masterpiece, Silence... beautifully crafted, mature work... essential for an understanding of his view of the human condition

Endo's most probing novel since his masterpiece, Silence... beautifully crafted, mature work... essential for an understanding of his view of the human condition

A deceptively simple and well-told story of spiritual inquiry that movingly explores all the big questions

Endo is one of the world's greatest novelists, a wizard with plot and character and description who writes a simple story about simple people and packs it densely with drama, challenge and finally faith

Everything I have read of Endo is memorable. He never disappoints

Shusaku Endo (1923-1996) was one of the greatest novelists of postwar Japan. Baptised as a Roman Catholic as a child, his work explores the relationship between East and West from his unique perspective as a Japanese Christian. Endo won the Akutgawa Prize and the Yomiuri Literary Prize, was nominated for the Nobel Prize several times, and received an Order of Culture from the Japanese government. His historical fiction novel, Silence, was adapted into a 2016 film of the same name by the director Martin Scorsese.