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Transcription (2018)

by Kate Atkinson

Other authors: See the other authors section.

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2,4221226,344 (3.66)189
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 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.… (more)
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» See also 189 mentions

English (117)  Dutch (1)  Piratical (1)  All languages (119)
Showing 1-5 of 117 (next | show all)
Marvellous! This tale of an 18 year old girls very rapid growing up at the onset of WW2 and her induction into MI5 and subsequent adventures is told in the style of the wonderful writers of postWW2 England, such as Muriel Spark and Penelope Fitzgerald. Actually, Atkinson hails Fitzgerald in the Author’s Note that concludes this wonderful book. While I have read Atkinson’s 'Life After Life' and thought it fine I likely would not have read another if ‘Transcription’ had not been recommended in the pages of Louise Erdrich’s amazing story “The Sentence” and its whacky book store characters and their favourite novels, of which “Transcription” was one… but I digress. Ms. Atkinson applies the style of post WW2 writers very effectively, and the narrator/heroine Juliet has an amazing voice; articulate, droll, insightful, witty, brave, and full of cheeky lies. In fact, she lied to me also, and will to you too should you read this tale. The story is based mostly in two time windows, the war and 10 years later, as Juliet’s experiences in MI5 play out, and then the follow up as the past has its consequences. I loved following her adventures and thoughts. 4.5 easy! ( )
  diveteamzissou | May 26, 2024 |
Not my favorite of [a:Kate Atkinson|10015|Kate Atkinson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1363801830p2/10015.jpg] but a cracking good tale about a young woman working for MI5 during WWII and the machinations of her co-conspirators. It will keep your interest. ( )
  featherbooks | May 7, 2024 |
I have quite mixed feelings about this book. I expected to like it: this is Kate Atkinson after all, mistress of the clever, well constructed plot. But though it's well written, though it tells a good tale, I was never fully absorbed. I had the odd feeling of looking down at the story from a height without any real connection to it. The war time section was better. Somehow, the chapters set in the 1950s failed to convince me. I'm writing this review over a week since I finished the book and .... I can't remember the ending. Maybe three stars is a bit generous then. ( )
  Margaret09 | Apr 15, 2024 |
Her best yet--and that is saying something. Masterful, engaging. I read it nearly in one gulp. ( )
  fmclellan | Jan 23, 2024 |
Four stars ‘till near the end, which didn’t come together for me ( )
  danielskatz | Dec 26, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 117 (next | show all)
This idea of consequences, and of every choice exacting a price later, runs like a watermark through Transcription, as it did through its two predecessors. At times, the novel is guilty of making its historical parallels a little too emphatic:... Transcription stands alongside its immediate predecessors as a fine example of Atkinson’s mature work; an unapologetic novel of ideas, which is also wise, funny and paced like a spy thriller. While it may lack the emotional sucker punch of A God in Ruins, Transcription exerts a gentler pull on the emotions, offering at the end a glimmer of hope, even as it asks us to consider again our recent history and the price of our individual and collective choices. It could hardly be more timely.
added by KayCliff | editGuardian, Stephanie Merritt (Sep 4, 2018)
 

» Add other authors

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Kate Atkinsonprimary authorall editionscalculated
Woolgar, FenellaNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Information from the Dutch Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
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Epigraph
‘In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.’
Winston Churchill
This Temple of the Arts and Muses is dedicated to Almighty God by the first Governors of Broadcasting in the year 1931, Sir John Reith being Director General. It is their prayer that good seed sown may bring forth a good harvest, that all things hostile to peace or purity may be banished from this house, and that the people, inclining their ear to whatsoever things are beautiful and honest and of good report, may tread the path of wisdom and uprightness.
Translation of Latin inscription in the foyer of British Broadcasting House
Z      Stands for ‘Zero’, the hour still abed
When a new England rises and the old one is dead.
From the Right Club’s ‘War Alphabet’
Dedication
For Marianne Velmans
First words
‘MISS ARMSTRONG? MISS Armstrong, can you hear me?’
Quotations
Recently she had bought a new book, by Elizabeth David - "A Book of Mediterranean Food". A hopeful purchase. The only olive oil she could find was sold in her local chemist in a small bottle. "For softening earwax?" he asked when she handed over her money.
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Information from the Dutch Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
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Information from the Dutch Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
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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 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.

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