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 for ever.
Ten years later, now a 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 this country's most exceptional writers.
['MISS ARMSTRONG? MISS Armstrong, can you hear me?]***
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(@TransworldBooks, 6 September 2018, ebook, 273 pages, borrowed from @GlasgowLib via @OverDriveLibs)
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I'm a big fan of Atkinson and tend to find her books to be pretty amazing. So I had very high hopes for Transcription. Unfortunately, they were dashed. The first thing that let me down is the main character, Juliet. First off, I struggled to connect with her or care about her in any way, shape or form. Second of all, she's 18 in parts of the book but comes across as about 11 at times which annoyed me. I cannot get behind a character if the author can't portray their age correctly. I had a similar issue with all of the characters. The book starts of well with the makings of a decent WWII espionage novel. Things descend rather rapidly into a farce. There is a rather bloody and violent scene towards the end of the book which should be horrific but just comes across as flat and not remotely interesting. This is a huge disappointment because I've loved her other books so much.
