Translated By Richard A. Schuchert; My book called A Life of Jesus may cause surprise for American readers when they discover an interpretation of Jesus somewhat at odds with the image they now possess.

In this moving novel, a group of Japanese tourists, each of whom is wrestling with his or her own demons, travels to the River Ganges on a pilgrimage of grace.

Father Sebastian Rodrigues sets sail for Japan in 1640. He is on a mission to find one of the Portuguese Jesuits that went before him, a spiritual example to the younger priests, and disprove the shocking rumours that this man has betrayed his faith. Embarking full of idealistic fire, Rodrigues soon finds that life in this strange land will challenge his convictions, too. For the Tokugawa shogunate has banned Christianity and expelled all the missionaries from Japan - and the believers who remain must worship in secret or face torture and execution. Inspired by the author's own experience as...

In 1950s Japan, Doctor Suguro is carrying on a humdrum practice in a small town still recovering from the war. A quiet, withdrawn individual, he has a horrific secret in his past: during the war he participated in an experimental operation on a downed American airman, carrying out a vivisection which led to his agonising death. As we move from the seemingly tranquil, civilised present back into the wartime past, we learn more about the people involved in the operation. There's sensitive Suguro, whose acquiescence at the time has left him with an agonised conscience; Toda, a worldly colleague...