The Sea and Poison, 9781805332428
Paperback
Wartime choices haunt a doctor in postwar Japan. Can he escape?
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The Sea and Poison

$25.04

  • Paperback

    176 pages

  • Release Date

    23 February 2026

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Summary

The Surgeon’s Secret: A Novel of War, Ethics, and Memory

In post-war Japan, Doctor Suguro leads a quiet life, haunted by a dark secret. During the war, he participated in a horrific vivisection on a captured American airman, an act that ended in the airman’s agonizing death.

As the narrative shifts between the tranquil present and the turbulent past, the story unveils the individuals involved in the fateful operation: Suguro, tormented by his conscience; Toda, a pragmatic do…

Book Details

ISBN-13:9781805332428
ISBN-10:1805332422
Author:Shusaku Endo, Michael Gallagher
Publisher:Pushkin Press
Imprint:Pushkin Press Classics
Format:Paperback
Number of Pages:176
Release Date:23 February 2026
Weight:158g
Dimensions:198mm x 129mm
What They're Saying

Critics Review

‘The Sea and Poison is a short novel of considerable power and distinction … its effect and its implications are haunting’ - TLS‘Shusaku Endo has in this novel exposed a frailty which to some degree we all share’ - Sunday Times‘This is an important book … but you will need a strong stomach for the graphic descriptions of operations, as blood flows and ribs crack’ - Telegraph‘Analytical without being passionless, horrifying without brutality, structured without seeming contrived’ - Irish Times‘A remarkable and distinguished novel about the nature of evil, guilt and conscience’ - Scotsman

About The Author

Shusaku Endo

SHUSAKU ENDO (1923-1996) was one of the greatest novelists of postwar Japan. Baptised as a Roman Catholic as a child, his work explores the relationship between East and West from his unique perspective as a Japanese Christian. Endo won the Akutagawa Prize and the Yomiuri Literary Prize, was nominated for the Nobel Prize several times, and received an Order of Culture from the Japanese government. Among his other novels are Deep River, The Samurai, and his masterpiece Silence.

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