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 Akutagawa Prize and the Yomiuri Literary Prize, was nominated for the Nobel Prize several times, and received an Order of Culture from the Japanese government. Among his other novels are Deep River, The Samurai, and his masterpiece Silence, all published by or forthcoming from Pushkin Press.
'The Sea and Poison is a short novel of considerable power and distinction . . . its effect and its implications are haunting' - TLS 'Shusaku Endo has in this novel exposed a frailty which to some degree we all share' - Sunday Times 'This is an important book . . . but you will need a strong stomach for the graphic descriptions of operations, as blood flows and ribs crack' - Telegraph 'Analytical without being passionless, horrifying without brutality, structured without seeming contrived' - Irish Times 'A remarkable and distinguished novel about the nature of evil, guilt and conscience' - Scotsman