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Transcription

By: Kate Atkinson
Narrated by: Fenella Woolgar
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About this listen

Random House presents the audiobook edition of Transcription by Kate Atkinson, read by Fenella Woolgar.

The magnificent new novel by best-selling award-winning Kate Atkinson.

‘Think of it as an adventure, Perry had said right at the beginning of all this.And it had seemed like one. A bit of a lark, she had thought. A Girls’ Own adventure.’

In 1940, 18-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 sympathisers, 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 realise 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.

©2018 Kate Atkinson (P)2018 Random House Audiobooks
Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Fiction War Espionage

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I have been a great admirer of Kate Atkinson since 'Behind the Scenes at the Museum' reading everything that she has published since. I thought that she was at the top of her game with 'Life After Life' and 'A God in Ruins' so was really looking forward to 'Transcription'.
I stuck with it thinking that it was going to emerge as some sort of pastiche but it never did. If cliches weighed an ounce each and you took 'Transcription' on a plane for a holiday read then you would have spent all your holiday money on excess baggage. I can only think that Random House was being deferential to one of their established authors. If she had submitted this manuscript in place of 'Behind the Scenes..'.my guess is that it would have ended up in the slush pile. Sorry Kate - maybe best to leave this sort of stuff to John le Carre and go back to what you do best.

Not her finest hour

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I had only read Life After Life previously which was excellent so I had high hopes for this book. Unfortunately Kate Atkinson managed to make an exciting subject really quite dull. I stuck it all the way to the end and it did get better eventually but not enough to make it worth recommending.

Disappointing

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The tangled web usually comes back to trap its creator as it has no other purpose but to entangle those that use it to create illusions of truth or morality.
The characters are well described, and the plot is eloquent and with enough surprises to make it a true thriller.
I hate the fact that the emphasis by the promoters of this books is on gender and not people, but that is the world we live in now. The fact that is based on a real character and events gives it a flavour and filling of real danger.

Worth reading, the book brings to life two periods that have for the most part been buried in time, the support of Hitler by British citizens. The infiltration of the left by communist Russia or as it was known then the Soviet Union immediately after the war, now described as the Cold War and how pervasive it was in Britain.

The complexities of deceit.

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I found the story absorbing, with a frisson of fear in the background. The narration struck the right, rather detached note, which suited the characters very well. Kate Atkinson has a writing style that keeps me wanting to read more.

Beautifully written and narrated.

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I enjoyed this book on the whole. It was a bit difficult to keep up with the different time scales and also I lost track occasionally on the names of the various spies and double agents. The men in grey.
Danielle Woolgar has a nice voice to listen to but can I urge Audible to check the volume on some of their books. My hearing is not good and some narrators 'murmer' at times which is very frustrating.

Transcription

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