‘Like a Cezanne still-life or some of Picasso’s pen-and-ink drawings this approaches perfection through simplicity.’ – Los Angeles Times

At times romantic and elegiac, When I Whistle is a shocking exposé of the war between new and traditional values in Japan.

On a commercial visit, a jaded businessman has a chance encounter with the doctor son of his best friend at school. He is instantly reminded of a love interest they shared in a woman called Aiko. The son of his friend proves to be contemptuous of the outmoded values of his father’s world and ruthless in pursuit of success at the hospital. When Aiko is admitted under the charge of the Doctor, a terrible chance to advance his aims at the hospital and air his contempt for his father arises.

‘A touching story of the erosion of innocence and of faith somehow kept.’ – Sunday Telegraph

‘A most intelligent and distinguished work. Endo has that quality of the true novelist: he can present a story that works even when read in different ways.’ – Scotsman

‘Demonstrates that the novelist can be a poet as well as a biographer, shaping and colouring people and places to suit a transforming, individual vision of life.’ –Sunday Times

‘Another major work by one Japan’s most brilliant writers, and it sweeps the heart.’ –Fort Worth Star-Telegram

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SHUSAKU ENDO (1923-1996) is widely regarded as one of the greatest Japanese authors of the late twentieth century. Born in 1923, he won many major literary awards and was nominated for the Nobel Prize several times. His novels, which have been translated into twenty-eight languages, include Silence, The Sea and Poison, Wonderful Fool, Deep River and The Samurai. He died in 1996.