" Readers are keepers of secrets: as an illicit page is turned, as a dangerous truth is inferred. The pulse quickens. Something explosive ticks between the lines. There is an intake of breath; the voyeur's silent flare of recognition. All the while, his or her face is impassive, unremarkable even, because like all subversives, readers lead careful double lives. "

― Alison MacLeod , Tenderness