The Samurai [Paperback]

In 1613, four low-ranking Japanese samurai, accompanied by a Spanish priest,set sail for Mexico to bargain for trading rights with the West in exchange fora Catholic crusade through Japan. Their arduous journey lasts four years, asthey travel onward to Mexico then Rome, where they are persuaded that thesuccess of their mission depends on their conversion to Christianity. In fact,the enterprise seems to have been futile from the start: the mission returns toJapan to find that the political tides have shifted. The authorities are now pursuing an isolationist policy and a ruthless stamping out of Western influences.In the face of disillusionment and death, the samurai can only find solace in asavior theyre not sure they believe in.?One of the finest novels, from a masterly historicalwriter (David Mitchell)? A narrative of austere power. Thick with adventure. A historical fiction with meanings for many cultures and all seasons, and agreat travel narrative; its re-creations of place, from marshy north-east Japan,to the storm-tossed eastern and western oceans, to the deserts of CentralMexico, to the pomps of Baroque Madrid and Rome, are extraordinary. TheSamurai is animated by a rich and full spiritual vision. Endo to my mind is one of the finest living novelists.?