Transcription

TITLE: Transcription
AUTHOR: Kate Atkinson

I haven't read a Kate Atkinson book I didn't love, and this is no exception. Told in two, alternating periods of time (1940 and 1950) bookended by a scene playing out in 1981, the story focuses on Juliet Armstrong, the British transcriber of the title. Juliet is 18 years old when she joins an MI5 department keeping tabs on the Fifth Column, a group of Brits with fascist leanings who meet with a Gestopo agent in an ordinary apartment. Unknown to them, the Gestopo agent is actually a MI5 agent and the apartment is wired for sound. In the next apartment, Juliet transcribes the recordings of the debriefings. On one occasion, she's assigned a more active role investigating a particular Nazi sympathizer. The war ends and Juliet gets on with her life, working as a radio producer for the BBC, but when MI5 has need of her services, she learns that no one is ever free of the security service.

In the hands of many authors, this would be sufficient for an exciting WWII/Cold War spy adventure, but Atkinson has a bit more in mind for her readers. Juliet is an amazing creation. Even with a third person narrator, we see many of Juliet's thoughts, mostly the sardonic or ironic ones. But we're not privy to everything, not until Atkinson is ready to reveal all. The twists and turns of this historical novel and Juliet comes to realize she's never truly been in control of her decisions, and that actions have consequences. Throw in exploration of identity, loyalty, trust and suspicion, plus some philosophy, and you get a literary novel that's compelling to read.