"'Scandal ends, as it opens, with sinister premonitions... extremely gripping.' - New York Times 'Subtle, eerie and fascinating' - London Evening Standard 'Endo is a great thriller writer... The novel is spine-chilling, erotic, cruel, full of intellectual games... very powerful.' - Sunday Telegraph 'Endo's most remarkable novel... a superb dramatic triumph, a perfect plaiting of strands into a single, most delicate crowned knot.' - Independent"

SHUSAKU ENDO is widely regarded as one of the greatest Japanese authors of the late twentieth century. Born in 1923, he won many major literary awards and was nominated for the Nobel Prize several times. His novels, which have been translated into twenty-eight languages, include The Sea and Poison, Wonderful Fool, Deep River and Silence. He died in 1996.