☰Silence

Endo's 1966 novel follows a 17th-century Portuguese Jesuit who comes to Japan to investigate rumours that his mentor has apostatised under torture. The book is rooted in the Christian persecutions that took place in and around Nagasaki — the fumi-e plaques, the executions on Nishizaka, the hidden Christians of the Goto islands. Endo, himself a Japanese Catholic, used the historical record as scaffolding for a profound meditation on faith and the silence of God. Martin Scorsese's 2016 film adaptation was partly shot on location. Read it before you visit the Twenty-Six Martyrs Museum.