A dramatic story of WWII espionage, betrayal, and loyalty, by the #1 bestselling author of Life After Life In 1940, eighteen-year old Juliet Armstrong is reluctantly recruited into the world of espionage. Sent to an obscure department of MI5 tasked with monitoring the comings and goings of British Fascist sympathizers, she discovers the work to be by turns both tedious and terrifying. But after … tedious and terrifying. But after the war has ended, she presumes the events of those years have been relegated to the past forever.
Ten years later, now a radio producer at the BBC, Juliet is unexpectedly confronted by figures from her past. A different war is being fought now, on a different battleground, but Juliet finds herself once more under threat. A bill of reckoning is due, and she finally begins to realize that there is no action without consequence.
Transcription is a work of rare depth and texture, a bravura modern novel of extraordinary power, wit, and empathy. It is a triumphant work of fiction from one of the best writers of our time.
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I enjoy reading stories taking place in WWII . I like to think I’m getting an education.
This book is interesting, but a bit disjointed.
It takes place in multiple times from the “present” to 1940.
No one is whom they seem or portray themselves to be. Today’s safest “friend” may well be selling you out tonight.
All this was interesting, but several story threads seemed left unfinished.
Did x actually steal?
Did y actually plan to sell pictures to the other side?
I was left wondering, especially about the primary character.
Hard to det into
Ironically historical. I loved the inner workings of the main character’s mind.
I particularly enjoyed the sardonic tone of the interior life/thoughts of Juliet, the narrator and protagonist who became a minor spy for the British during WW II, serving as a hidden transcriptionist while spies in an adjoining apartment, were under cover as Nazi sympathizers in conversation with actual Nazi sympathizers as the conversations were elaborately bugged. Juliet was good enough at her job that she was subsequently tapped to go undercover herself with Nazi sympathizers. The story moves back and forth in time, depicting the repercussions of these activities after the war. The writing is exceptional, the characters beautifully defined and the novel very richly peopled. It’s not a quick or easy read, but it is certainly a worthwhile one.
It didn’t love up to my high expectations for Kate Atkinson’s books.
A clever, complex thriller. Atkinson’s protagonist, Juliet Armstrong, has an entertaining take on the people she encounters during her time at M15 and as a producer for the BBC after the war. A little confusing at times but, as always with this author, this book is a gripping and rewarding read.
I’ve been a Kate Atkinson fan for many years but ever since Life After Life, if she’s got a new book out, I’m reading it. I’m not saying Transcription is an easy read. It jumps around quite a bit and it is not an action packed spy thriller. It is subtle, clever and slowly rewarding. More Le Carre than Ludlum, but excellent all the same. Particularly enjoyed her author’s note at the very end. Very British, if you like that sort of thing.
I love Kate Atkinson and, like any good fan, buy all her books. This one was slower than usual, building its case slowly, caught up in the time and culture of World War II. I am writing myself now about World War II in a book about my father, so that was useful. These characters, too, were—as usual—wonderfully developed and real. I think they probably are real since it’s known in certain circles that Kate Atkinson time travels. More power to her.
Wonderful writer mixing some known espionage figures with this fiction story
Don’t waste your money on this book – little to no character development – plot was boring ending was boring – anti-climatic. I won’t read this author again! She needs a new editor.
I loved this book, very interesting, historically accurate(to a point( and always entertaining. And I love the female hero!
Book has unexpected plot about which creates an unusual plot for a historical time written about quite frequently.
I like her earlier books better (LIFE AFTER LIFE was fantastic ), but this was well-written and interesting .
Transcription by Kate Atkinson is a World War II era story about a low-level employee at Britain’s MI5 and the impact it had on her entire life. All over the world a revolution took place during the war when men had previously held women got out of the home and filled positions in the workplace that. After the war, they struggled to find their place in the world. Once a spy, always a spy? These facts made life difficult for Juliet Armstrong.
The story opens when Juliet is lying on the ground surrounded by ambulance attendants after being hit by a car (many years after the war). In her delirium, her mind goes to the past and her story begins. It’s 1940 and she is in a low-level clerical position (working out of a prison) when she is approached for another position, away from the prison. By 1950, she is a program director at the BBC, not all that thrilled with her life. She is unmarried and in a boring job. One day she sees a man from her spy days and the adventure begins.
Transcription is a dramatic look into post WW II life for an English woman. It’s also an interesting take on the politics after the war and the battle for power by relatively low level MI5 employees in danger of being excised now that the war is over. This era is extremely interesting and Transcription is a different viewpoint, for sure. It was interesting. I recommend it. If the reader is a lover of this era or historical fiction in general, this choice will not go amiss.
I received a free ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. #netgalley #transcription
Hitler was collecting countries like stamps. How long before he had the full set? Transcription by Kate Atkinson
I was swept into Transcription, enthralled with Kate Atkinson’s atmospheric and witty writing, the recreation of England during the rise of Hitler, and the espionage ring with its vivid characters and uncertain alliances.
The novel opens in 1950 with twenty-eight-year-old Juliet working in post-war London for the BBC.
“There was a better life somewhere, Juliet supposed, if only she could be bothered to find it.” Transcription by Kate Atkinson
Julie fingers her necklace of pearls, which she admits she took off a dead woman who was heavier to lift than she looked. We learn that Julie tells lies to strangers. She sees a man she used to know by two names, who tells her “I think you have confused me with someone else.” And in a local cafe, a strange man observes her “in a way that was extremely disconcerting.” Julie reflects on her time with MI5 during the war ten years previous, when she was a transcriptionist typing recordings of traitorous conversations.
Juliet’s life working for MI5 alternates between boredom and mystery. She is never completely filled in on the operations, merely does as she is told. She drifts along with whatever comes, even into a mock engagement with a coworker who shows no physical interest in her. She is given a fake identity as part of a sting operation. She is a natural liar and playactor.
The future of England at stake, with Fascists sympathizers and Communist sympathizers and loyal royalists endeavoring for the prize.
This England, is it worth fighting for? Transcription by Kate Atkinson
The novel ends with unexpected turns of events.
“It was all such a waste of breath. War and peace. Peace and war. It would go on forever without end.” Transcription by Kate Atkinson
I am so happy to have finally read Atkinson. I can’t wait to get a hold of her previous books.
I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
It’s 1940 and eighteen-year-old grammar school girl Juliet Armstrong is recruited by MI5 to become a secretary, holed up in a secret location transcribing the meetings of a group of Nazi sympathisers.
The meetings are held in what these people assume is a safe house. But’s nothing of the kind, because everything is being recorded and one day it might be used against them.
As an operative for MI5, Juliet is hoping for adventures and romance. She certainly gets adventures, posing as a Nazi sympathiser herself and infiltrating a different, much posher group of Nazis who can’t wait for the German army to invade the UK, which – in 1940, with almost the entire the British Expeditionary Force stranded on the beaches of northern France, and the rest of Europe already under the heel of the jackboot – it looks as if Germany certainly could.
Who is a traitor, who is a spy, and who is a double agent? Or even a treble agent? As Juliet becomes more and more enmeshed in the world of espionage, she becomes more and more confused. Who should she trust and who should she betray to the mysterious men for whom she works? Maybe her bosses are traitors themselves? She just doesn’t know.
This is an exciting read, as engaging as any thriller.