The Recurring Cast
Character guide · 5 books · 1957 to 1993

Shūsaku Endō

Historical fictionLiterary and generalWartime and twentieth centuryLiterary fiction

Shūsaku Endō, a Japanese Catholic novelist, wrote about faith, doubt and betrayal. Silence follows two Portuguese Jesuits who travel to seventeenth-century Japan, where Christians are hunted and forced to renounce their faith.

Best estimate, compiled from series guides, publisher descriptions and reviews where available, and from memory otherwise. Book level only, not chapter level. Minor includes cameos and brief references. Each book carries a confidence rating in its tooltip. His novels are standalones; leads are charted per book. Dates are of the Japanese editions.

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Who appears in which book

Click a name to follow that character from book to book, or a book title to see its cast.

LLeadMMajor·MinorHas a note
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Shūsaku Endō books in order

Each series in publication order, with its lead characters. Where the story runs in a different order, switch to Story order. Crossover books are marked and listed under their main series. Use My books to track what you have read.

Novels

5 booksLiterary fictionWartime and twentieth century
  1. 1The Sea and Poison1957With Suguro · Set in FukuokaBuy on Amazon
  2. 2Wonderful Fool1959With Gaston Bonaparte · Set in TokyoBuy on Amazon
  3. 3Silence1966With Sebastião Rodrigues · Set in NagasakiBuy on Amazon
  4. 4The Samurai1980With Hasekura Rokuemon · Set in Japan, Mexico and SpainBuy on Amazon
  5. 5Deep River1993With Mitsuko Naruse · Set in VaranasiBuy on Amazon

Characters

9 recurring and key characters, with the book each one first appears in.

Leads