Duncan Bush's new work brings to life, at times painfully, the work of the Russian poet Victor Bal, who 'disappeared' under Stalinism. This surprising and original new book recalls the period by an intermingling of history and fiction which imaginative writers have always understood but that historians have rarely admitted.

The Genre of Silence is illustrated by the artist John Selway from original etchings.

Duncan Bush was born and brought up in Cardiff, Wales. He was educated at Warwick, Duke and Oxford Universities. His collection Masks (1994) was a PBS Recommendation and Arts Council of Wales Book of the Year. He has also published novels, Glass Shot (Secker) and The Genre of Silence as well as scripts for stage and screen. He currently divides his time between Wales and Europe.