The Book Nook

Secrets and Lies   Those seeking intelligent spy novels infused with both drama and humor should give one of Kate Atkinson’s recent novels a try.  “Transcription” was published in 2018 and is set in London in the mid-1900s.  Like many of the author’s other works, it combines history with intrigue and drama. The central figure is Juliet Armstrong, a young woman who is astute yet naïve.  After Britain declares war, she’s summoned by the government to an interview and is assigned to an administrative pool of women.  Before long she’s chosen by the head of an MI5 counter-subversive team for a special mission. Her new job is done in an agency-owned apartment and consists of transcribing conversations of Nazi sympathizers in a nearby room filled with hidden microphones.  She finds the task both frightening and boring, and has no objections when she’s asked to take on an alias and infiltrate a group of wealthy anti-Semites.  She’s given a cigarette lighter that contains a camera and at one point has to shinny down a trellis to escape being caught snooping.  It’s all a bit thrilling. But the thrills have a definite downside.  One civilian disappears after agreeing to help Juliet while a momentary lapse in vigilance causes another to suffer a messy death.  When Juliet is asked by one colleague to spy on another, we get a signal that not everyone is who they appear to be on the surface.  That’s not unusual in espionage authors who like to keep readers guessing. After the war, Juliet takes a job at the BBC producing children’s dramas.   Although she believes the war is over and done with, people from her past start popping up so frequently it can’t be mere coincidence.  One incidence in particular is so mystifying that she slips into her old role to get at the truth.  Nothing is certain in this shadowy world and she discovers others are aware of things she thought were her secrets alone. Juliet’s history unfolds through narratives set in both the 1940s and 1950s with brief book-end chapters occurring in 1981.  At the start of the tale the author teases us with a quick enough glimpse of Juliet’s life as a senior to give us a chill that not all is well.  This unsettling information provides a dark backdrop as her story is revealed, keeping us in suspense until the end. One minor annoyance I found was with the book’s structure and the author’s penchant for playing fast and loose with time.  The gap between the first and second introduction to Juliet’s BBC colleagues made it difficult to pick up the thread of their relationships without backtracking.  Fortunately, the author‘s skill at giving each character unique voices or mannerisms made that task easier. On the up side, there is much to enjoy here.  The plot is intriguing and the pace is much like a spy thriller.  There are enough twists to keep readers contemplating the next moves and the characters are engaging.  Juliet’s comments and inner narrative are droll and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny.  Indeed, humor is infused into most of the story, as is the idea that choices comes with a price. Also interesting is that this is a spy novel that isn’t about spies.  While parts of Juliet’s life are mundane, the presentation makes it truly interesting.  This carries over to the author’s ability to draw readers into a specific time in history.  Although we have the benefit of hindsight, Atkinson was able to convey that the British had no idea how long the war would last or what the future held for them. Two hallmarks of Atkinson’s writing are duality and loss of love, especially where family and identity are concerned.  A perfect example is Juliet herself, whose own losses are felt, mourned and put aside as life goes on.  She’s a bit of a mystery and it’s hard discern her true feelings about many things, including the war. Are her flippant comments intended to amuse, or do they mask a lack of patriotism? Juliet seems wise beyond her years yet ignorant of things that are obvious to others.  All in all, she’s an original and compelling character.  Her ability to lie so convincingly is another example of duality and is why she was recruited by MI5 in the first place.   Those who enjoyed Atkinson’s award-winning twinned novels “Life After Life” and “A God in Ruins” will be happy to note that while the characters are different, “Transcription” continues the themes from those books. The author’s diligent research and ability to write with intelligence and playfulness make this work both informative and entertaining.  Her prose made the novel worth the read, especially for the comedy that’s never far away.