Description
Book Synopsis______________
THE NO.1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER BY AWARD WINNER KATE ATKINSON
'An unapologetic novel of ideas which is also wise, funny and paced like a thriller' Observer
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.
'How vehemently most novelists will wish to produce a masterpiece as good' Telegraph
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Trade ReviewNo other contemporary novelist has such
supreme mastery of that sweet spot between high and low,
literary and compulsively readable as Kate Atkinson. I look forward to a new Atkinson book like I look forward to Christmas…what lends the novel enchantment is that patented Atkinson double whammy: gravity and levity. Tragedy and comedy as so skilfully entwined that you find yourself snorting with mirth…brimming with dark wit that
reminds you how deeply satisfying good fiction can be. -- Allison Pearson * Sunday Telegraph *
Transcription stands alongside its immediate predecessors as a
fine example of Kate Atkinson's mature work, an unapologetic novel of ideas which is also
wise, funny and paced like a thriller. -- Stephanie Merritt * Observer *
Kate Atkinson is
a wonderful writer. I want to write like her when I grow up. Transcription shows she's at the peak of her powers. Full of beautiful, delicate, sharp sentences and characterisations. A spy novel that dismantles the whole genre.
A class act, as ever. -- Matt Haig
Superb...
Transcription is the sort of book that reminds you how
profound and satisfying and moving and
exhilarating good fiction can be. It’s the best novel I’ve read all year. I can’t praise it enough. * Irish Times *
Never loses its sense of absurdity of human beings even in their most tragic or noble moments...How vehemently most novelists will wish to produce a
masterpiece as good. -- Jake Kerridge * Daily Telegraph *
