Habits of Silence

"Afterwards, she couldn't remember actually making a decision to steal from him. It was as if it had already been made, a long time ago, and simply awaited the opportunity. She didn't, of course, call it stealing. As she slid the fifty dollar note into the pocket of her own jeans, and dropped the shirt into the washing machineacarried on, in fact, as if nothing had happenedashe told herself that someone had to take some responsibility". The role of silence in the relationships of the people who populate this richly varied collection of stories is mirrored in the restraint of the writing that captures them. While the characters have all the difficulties communicating that we can recognise in our own lives, Buckle's deceptively understated style reveals them with startling cumulative power.