It tells the story of a Jesuit missionary sent to 17th-century Japan, who endures persecution in the time of Kakure Kirishitan ("Hidden Christians") that followed the defeat of the Shimabara Rebellion.

The recipient of the 1966 Tanizaki Prize, it has been called "Endō's supreme achievement"[1] and "one of the twentieth century's finest novels".

[2] Written partly in the form of a letter by its central character, the theme of a silent God who accompanies a believer in adversity was greatly influenced by the Catholic Endō's experience of religious discrimination in Japan, culture gap in France, and a debilitating bout with tuberculosis.

The young Portuguese Jesuit priest Sebastião Rodrigues (based on the historical Italian figure Giuseppe Chiara) travels to Japan to assist the local Church and investigate reports that his mentor, a Jesuit priest in Japan named Ferreira, based on Cristóvão Ferreira, has committed apostasy.

Rodrigues and Garrpe are eventually captured and forced to swim as Japanese Christians lay down their lives for the faith.

[5] In a review published by The New Yorker, John Updike called Silence "a remarkable work, a sombre, delicate, and startlingly empathetic study of a young Portuguese missionary during the relentless persecution of the Japanese Christians in the early seventeenth century.

Instead, the novel's popularity was boosted by "left-wing college students" who saw a connection to the plight of Japanese Marxists in the circumstances of Rodrigues.

[12] Composer and poet Teizo Matsumura wrote the libretto and music for an opera with the same title, which was premiered at the New National Theatre in Tokyo in 2000.