NOW A MAJOR FILM BY MARTIN SCORSESEIt is 1640 and Jesuit priest Sebastian Rodrigues sets sail for Japan determined to help the brutally oppressed Christians there. He is also desperate to discover the truth about his former mentor, rumoured to have renounced his faith under torture. Rodrigues cannot believe the stories about a man he so revered, but as his journey takes him deeper into Japan and then into the hands of those who would crush his faith, he finds himself forced to make an impossible choice: to abandon his flock or his God . . . 'One of the finest historical novels written by anyone, anywhere . . . flawless' David Mitchell'A masterpiece. There can be no higher praise' Daily Telegraph