Transcription
by Kate Atkinson
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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 show more 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. show lessTags
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Life After Life and its companion A God in Ruins are among my favourite novels, so I was anxious to read Atkinson’s latest book. Unfortunately, it proved not to be as masterly.
In 1940, 18-year-old Juliet Armstrong is recruited by the Secret Service. Her job is to transcribe recordings of meetings between British Nazi sympathizers and Godfrey Toby, a British spy posing as a Gestapo agent. Later, MI5 puts her out in the field, infiltrating another group of Hitler supporters. The novel then switches to 1950 when Juliet is a BBC producer, but her work during the war comes back to haunt her. She receives a note with a threat: “’You will pay for what you did’” (186). Who is threatening her and why does a former colleague refuse to show more admit knowing her?
The novel emphasizes how truth is lost in wartime. Juliet believes “that appearances were invariably deceptive” (188) and this belief is reinforced when she is told that “’The mark of a good agent is when you have no idea which side they’re on’” (116). Juliet lies easily when first interviewed for a position with Secret Security, but she is accepted anyway; her interviewer “knew everything about her – more than she knew herself – including every lie and half-truth she told him at the interview. It didn’t seem to matter. In fact, she suspected that it helped in a way” (37).
When first sent into the field and given a false identity, she is advised, “’And remember, if you’re going to tell a lie, tell a good one. . . . It can be a difficult concept, fabricating a life – the falsehoods and so on. Some people find it challenging to dissemble in this way.’” Juliet’s reaction is telling: “Not me, Juliet thought” (80). Looking back at the war, Juliet comments, “The war had made the world weary of facts” (178) because “People always said they wanted the truth, but really they were perfectly content with a facsimile” (185).
By the end of the war Juliet knows “she has moved away from [truth]” (19). The problem is that, after adopting so many identities during the war, she seems to have lost herself: “There had been other identities too, although she never owned up to them in public. And then there was Juliet Armstrong, of course, who some days seemed like the most fictitious of them all, despite being the ‘real’ Juliet. But then what constituted real? Wasn’t everything, even this life itself, just a game of deception” (259)?
One is left wondering how truthful Juliet is. There’s an episode with earrings that shows her to be untrustworthy. And ten years later, she continues to deceive. She admits to lying in her BBC interview and she destroys incriminating evidence to protect herself and a colleague: “It was not the first time she had destroyed evidence of wrong-doing and she supposed it wouldn’t be the last” (214). At the BBC, she rewrites children’s radio histories to enliven them, often leaving out details, so one cannot help but wonder if she is leaving out details about her life. Since her name is closely associated with a dramatic script, is Juliet playing a role? Of course, Juliet is not the only enigma. Juliet’s colleagues (Godfrey Toby, Peregrine Gibbons, Miles Merton) also remain largely unknown, as befits spies.
The problem is that it is difficult to emotionally connect with Juliet. At the beginning, she is so naïve. Her age explains her innocence, but surely she should have realized the truth about Perry much sooner. And throughout her wartime activity, she makes frivolous comments. She thinks of her role as an adventure, as she is told to do; though one incident makes her aware of the fatal consequences of her spying, her comments and interior dialogue suggest little true change in her attitude. Would someone having to clean up after a killing actually quote Shakespeare: “She would have to clean again. And Again. Out, damned spot” (284)? Something seems missing, perhaps some warmth in her personality? Juliet even refers to this: “The unfathomable hollow inside her would never be filled” (171) and “She sometimes wondered if there was some emptiness inside that she was trying to fill” (205).
There are wonderful touches of humour. Juliet’s thoughts during Perry’s courtship, for example, are hilarious. What is missing is tension; for a spy thriller there is little danger except in a couple of episodes. And because of the first chapter, the reader knows that Juliet survives. The pacing is also uneven; for long stretches, nothing happens. Though this shows spy work is often mundane, unlike what James Bond films might suggest, such plotting does little to maintain the reader’s interest.
The book has the literary allusions I love, quite a few surprises, and several layers: “’There can be many layers to a thing. Like the spectrum of light’” (312). Unfortunately, the book just didn’t resonate with me; it didn’t have the emotional impact of Atkinson’s other World War II novels. Juliet ends up feeling that people are often pawns in “someone else’s great game” (313) and in some ways I feel the reader is manipulated by how information is divulged and withheld. I do think, however, that I might re-read the book because, like Juliet misses and misconstrues details, I might also have done so. I guess I’d be a lousy spy!
Note: Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski). show less
In 1940, 18-year-old Juliet Armstrong is recruited by the Secret Service. Her job is to transcribe recordings of meetings between British Nazi sympathizers and Godfrey Toby, a British spy posing as a Gestapo agent. Later, MI5 puts her out in the field, infiltrating another group of Hitler supporters. The novel then switches to 1950 when Juliet is a BBC producer, but her work during the war comes back to haunt her. She receives a note with a threat: “’You will pay for what you did’” (186). Who is threatening her and why does a former colleague refuse to show more admit knowing her?
The novel emphasizes how truth is lost in wartime. Juliet believes “that appearances were invariably deceptive” (188) and this belief is reinforced when she is told that “’The mark of a good agent is when you have no idea which side they’re on’” (116). Juliet lies easily when first interviewed for a position with Secret Security, but she is accepted anyway; her interviewer “knew everything about her – more than she knew herself – including every lie and half-truth she told him at the interview. It didn’t seem to matter. In fact, she suspected that it helped in a way” (37).
When first sent into the field and given a false identity, she is advised, “’And remember, if you’re going to tell a lie, tell a good one. . . . It can be a difficult concept, fabricating a life – the falsehoods and so on. Some people find it challenging to dissemble in this way.’” Juliet’s reaction is telling: “Not me, Juliet thought” (80). Looking back at the war, Juliet comments, “The war had made the world weary of facts” (178) because “People always said they wanted the truth, but really they were perfectly content with a facsimile” (185).
By the end of the war Juliet knows “she has moved away from [truth]” (19). The problem is that, after adopting so many identities during the war, she seems to have lost herself: “There had been other identities too, although she never owned up to them in public. And then there was Juliet Armstrong, of course, who some days seemed like the most fictitious of them all, despite being the ‘real’ Juliet. But then what constituted real? Wasn’t everything, even this life itself, just a game of deception” (259)?
One is left wondering how truthful Juliet is. There’s an episode with earrings that shows her to be untrustworthy. And ten years later, she continues to deceive. She admits to lying in her BBC interview and she destroys incriminating evidence to protect herself and a colleague: “It was not the first time she had destroyed evidence of wrong-doing and she supposed it wouldn’t be the last” (214). At the BBC, she rewrites children’s radio histories to enliven them, often leaving out details, so one cannot help but wonder if she is leaving out details about her life. Since her name is closely associated with a dramatic script, is Juliet playing a role? Of course, Juliet is not the only enigma. Juliet’s colleagues (Godfrey Toby, Peregrine Gibbons, Miles Merton) also remain largely unknown, as befits spies.
The problem is that it is difficult to emotionally connect with Juliet. At the beginning, she is so naïve. Her age explains her innocence, but surely she should have realized the truth about Perry much sooner. And throughout her wartime activity, she makes frivolous comments. She thinks of her role as an adventure, as she is told to do; though one incident makes her aware of the fatal consequences of her spying, her comments and interior dialogue suggest little true change in her attitude. Would someone having to clean up after a killing actually quote Shakespeare: “She would have to clean again. And Again. Out, damned spot” (284)? Something seems missing, perhaps some warmth in her personality? Juliet even refers to this: “The unfathomable hollow inside her would never be filled” (171) and “She sometimes wondered if there was some emptiness inside that she was trying to fill” (205).
There are wonderful touches of humour. Juliet’s thoughts during Perry’s courtship, for example, are hilarious. What is missing is tension; for a spy thriller there is little danger except in a couple of episodes. And because of the first chapter, the reader knows that Juliet survives. The pacing is also uneven; for long stretches, nothing happens. Though this shows spy work is often mundane, unlike what James Bond films might suggest, such plotting does little to maintain the reader’s interest.
The book has the literary allusions I love, quite a few surprises, and several layers: “’There can be many layers to a thing. Like the spectrum of light’” (312). Unfortunately, the book just didn’t resonate with me; it didn’t have the emotional impact of Atkinson’s other World War II novels. Juliet ends up feeling that people are often pawns in “someone else’s great game” (313) and in some ways I feel the reader is manipulated by how information is divulged and withheld. I do think, however, that I might re-read the book because, like Juliet misses and misconstrues details, I might also have done so. I guess I’d be a lousy spy!
Note: Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski). show less
Kate Atkinson is one of my very favorite authors. She writes beautifully complicated characters whose lives contain a multitude of options. So much popular literature is filled with characters written to fit the ending. Good characters are just like the rest of us, so many things can happen, some by chance and some made more likely by our choices. Juliet is that sort of character, so many possibilities.
I loved Juliet for roughly the final 60% of the book, but I started out not really caring what happened to her. I loved that Atkinson started her as a true innocent, but a person can be credulous and naive without being dull. We learn later some exciting things were happening, but all we see is someone transcribing overheard show more conversations.
I think the failure to engage in the first third is a pacing issue caused by communicating the story through those transcribed conversations. This is inherently unengaging. When I was a lawyer I worked on some interesting cases, but reviewing conversations and depositions is boring. Really boring. The case gets interesting when the evidence is distilled and a narrative drawn therefrom. In the second part of the book Atkinson gave us that gripping narrative, in the first she left the reader to engage in document review.
It is a complicated story that requires a great deal of setup, and I suppose the transcripts and actual teatime antisemitic rants do that, but they provide no action.
For the most part, this is a good book, a compelling book, but its no A God in Ruins or Life after Life. (I did enjoy the parallels between the Hitler supporters and the Trump supporters. Subtle, but clear to anyone with a even minor grasp of history.) The last 3rd reached the level of those earlier Atkinson books, but as a whole this is less engaging and powerful than those. So Atkinson is a victim of her own success, she has set such a high bar. So this is a 4 star which is better than most anything else you are likely to read. show less
I loved Juliet for roughly the final 60% of the book, but I started out not really caring what happened to her. I loved that Atkinson started her as a true innocent, but a person can be credulous and naive without being dull. We learn later some exciting things were happening, but all we see is someone transcribing overheard show more conversations.
I think the failure to engage in the first third is a pacing issue caused by communicating the story through those transcribed conversations. This is inherently unengaging. When I was a lawyer I worked on some interesting cases, but reviewing conversations and depositions is boring. Really boring. The case gets interesting when the evidence is distilled and a narrative drawn therefrom. In the second part of the book Atkinson gave us that gripping narrative, in the first she left the reader to engage in document review.
It is a complicated story that requires a great deal of setup, and I suppose the transcripts and actual teatime antisemitic rants do that, but they provide no action.
For the most part, this is a good book, a compelling book, but its no A God in Ruins or Life after Life. (I did enjoy the parallels between the Hitler supporters and the Trump supporters. Subtle, but clear to anyone with a even minor grasp of history.) The last 3rd reached the level of those earlier Atkinson books, but as a whole this is less engaging and powerful than those. So Atkinson is a victim of her own success, she has set such a high bar. So this is a 4 star which is better than most anything else you are likely to read. show less
A special thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
In 1940, eighteen-year old Juliet Armstrong is reluctantly recruited into the world of espionage. Sent to an obscure department of MI5 she is enlisted to transcribe the conversations that take place in a bugged flat between Godfrey Toby, an MI5 agent, and a group of suspected fascist sympathizers. At first the work seems dull, but then it becomes terrifying as Juliet is thrust into a world of secrets and code. After the war ends, she thinks that her service is over that the event she transcribed are left in the past.
Fast forward ten years and Juliet is now a radio producer with the BBC. Even though her past seems like a lifetime show more ago and Juliet has resigned herself to her more mundane life and work, she is unexpectedly confronted by figures from her past. Haunted by these relationships and her actions, Juliet cannot escape from the repercussions of her work. Left with no choice, she is pulled back into a life of espionage.
Atkinson is such a gifted writer. I had the privilege of attending an event where she spoke at length about her research and writing process for Transcription. Her writing is rare in that she brings humour to her narrative in such a subtle way. Much of this is accomplished through Juliet trying to make sense of what she is listening to as well as through her naiveté. Juliet is Atkinson's vehicle to make the events fictional. She is "the girl". Atkinson has described her as being "a smart character, but with an incredibly active imagination".
In typical Atkinson fashion, the reader is treated to shifts in time and plot (things don't unfold sequentially). You can certainly tell that she has done her research, the story that emerges is nothing short of original and extraordinary, and I encourage you to read the author's notes. Transcription is a layered work of deception and consequences and a thrilling literary read. show less
In 1940, eighteen-year old Juliet Armstrong is reluctantly recruited into the world of espionage. Sent to an obscure department of MI5 she is enlisted to transcribe the conversations that take place in a bugged flat between Godfrey Toby, an MI5 agent, and a group of suspected fascist sympathizers. At first the work seems dull, but then it becomes terrifying as Juliet is thrust into a world of secrets and code. After the war ends, she thinks that her service is over that the event she transcribed are left in the past.
Fast forward ten years and Juliet is now a radio producer with the BBC. Even though her past seems like a lifetime show more ago and Juliet has resigned herself to her more mundane life and work, she is unexpectedly confronted by figures from her past. Haunted by these relationships and her actions, Juliet cannot escape from the repercussions of her work. Left with no choice, she is pulled back into a life of espionage.
Atkinson is such a gifted writer. I had the privilege of attending an event where she spoke at length about her research and writing process for Transcription. Her writing is rare in that she brings humour to her narrative in such a subtle way. Much of this is accomplished through Juliet trying to make sense of what she is listening to as well as through her naiveté. Juliet is Atkinson's vehicle to make the events fictional. She is "the girl". Atkinson has described her as being "a smart character, but with an incredibly active imagination".
In typical Atkinson fashion, the reader is treated to shifts in time and plot (things don't unfold sequentially). You can certainly tell that she has done her research, the story that emerges is nothing short of original and extraordinary, and I encourage you to read the author's notes. Transcription is a layered work of deception and consequences and a thrilling literary read. show less
Don't go to Transcription looking for Jackson Brodie. This book is totally different. Complex, sometimes confusing in my opinion, but also intriguing. During some sections I literally couldn't stop reading.
Juliet Armstrong is 18 when she begins work in 1940 as a transcriptionist for MI5, England's intelligence organization. The job is to secretly listen in to meetings between an undercover agent and British Nazi sympathizers, making a transcript of the conversations. In addition to the undercover agent, there are many supporting characters, most MI5 employees. Later she will have additional work that will involve Juliet in some undercover work herself. Atkinson skips back and forth in time between 1940 and 1981 so we also know what show more happens to Juliet after the war.
My thoughts skip back and forth when thinking about the book. While reading it I was very engaged, although once in a while I felt disconcerted with one particular character. The ending was so unexpected that it left me gaga although it was surprisingly plausible.
I received this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. show less
Juliet Armstrong is 18 when she begins work in 1940 as a transcriptionist for MI5, England's intelligence organization. The job is to secretly listen in to meetings between an undercover agent and British Nazi sympathizers, making a transcript of the conversations. In addition to the undercover agent, there are many supporting characters, most MI5 employees. Later she will have additional work that will involve Juliet in some undercover work herself. Atkinson skips back and forth in time between 1940 and 1981 so we also know what show more happens to Juliet after the war.
My thoughts skip back and forth when thinking about the book. While reading it I was very engaged, although once in a while I felt disconcerted with one particular character. The ending was so unexpected that it left me gaga although it was surprisingly plausible.
I received this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. show less
I thought this book, like all of Kate Atkinson's books that I have read was very clever. And funny. It was a rather light-hearted look at the work of MI5 during World War II and after.
Juliet Armstrong was only 18 when World War II started but her mother had died and she was alone in the world. When she received a letter on official government paper asking her to come for an interview she didn't think she could refuse. The interview was conducted by a man who seemed to know quite a lot about her but asked questions anyway and Juliet told lies in response. I suppose this would show her fitness to work for MI5 and so she was hired along with many other young British women. After an initial stint at Wormwood Scrubs, a prison put to use for show more other purposes during the war, Juliet was seconded to a special project in a housing complex. Perry Gibbons was heading up a group who were pretending to be Fascists in order to get the fifth columnists in Britain under control. They had two adjoining apartments. Juliet, Perry and young Cyril were in one apartment monitoring equipment which recorded meetings next door between Mr. Toby and the fifth columnists. Juliet's main role was to produce transcripts of the meetings but she was also pressed into service to go undercover herself to gatherings of German sympathizers. It was a rather heady time for a young girl. Although most of the book is about her wartime activities there are also some chapters about Juliet's work after the war with the BBC. It seems that some occupations are never completely retired from so Juliet has to juggle her BBC responsibilities with little jobs for MI5. Play close attention when reading the bits set in 1950 because some things are not as they seem.
Having just finished another book set in this same time period (Goodnight from London by Jennifer Robson) I was struck by how two different novelists can treat the same setting and time so differently. Robson's book was definitely more serious in tone and was probably truer to the actual emotions of the time but Atkinson's was more entertaining and seemed consistent with the ironic style of humour for which the Brits are well known. I like them both, this one just a smidge better. show less
Juliet Armstrong was only 18 when World War II started but her mother had died and she was alone in the world. When she received a letter on official government paper asking her to come for an interview she didn't think she could refuse. The interview was conducted by a man who seemed to know quite a lot about her but asked questions anyway and Juliet told lies in response. I suppose this would show her fitness to work for MI5 and so she was hired along with many other young British women. After an initial stint at Wormwood Scrubs, a prison put to use for show more other purposes during the war, Juliet was seconded to a special project in a housing complex. Perry Gibbons was heading up a group who were pretending to be Fascists in order to get the fifth columnists in Britain under control. They had two adjoining apartments. Juliet, Perry and young Cyril were in one apartment monitoring equipment which recorded meetings next door between Mr. Toby and the fifth columnists. Juliet's main role was to produce transcripts of the meetings but she was also pressed into service to go undercover herself to gatherings of German sympathizers. It was a rather heady time for a young girl. Although most of the book is about her wartime activities there are also some chapters about Juliet's work after the war with the BBC. It seems that some occupations are never completely retired from so Juliet has to juggle her BBC responsibilities with little jobs for MI5. Play close attention when reading the bits set in 1950 because some things are not as they seem.
Having just finished another book set in this same time period (Goodnight from London by Jennifer Robson) I was struck by how two different novelists can treat the same setting and time so differently. Robson's book was definitely more serious in tone and was probably truer to the actual emotions of the time but Atkinson's was more entertaining and seemed consistent with the ironic style of humour for which the Brits are well known. I like them both, this one just a smidge better. show less
At the tender age of19, Juliet Armstrong in 1940 joins the world of spies, hired by MI5 to transcribe another spy's meetings with a group of Fascist Londoners who think he's a German agent. What seems somewhat normal and routine at the beginning of the book turns out to be anything but by the end. Juliet is a talented liar, and easily adapts to having multiple identities and living in a world of deception. How she combines this with a naivete (particularly early on) and magnetic innocence is one of the book's attractions. We never doubt her integrity, as she ends up navigating one dangerous situation after another.
There's a good bit of humor in the book. Here are a couple of examples.
"Juliet could only imagine the havoc she would cause show more if she started brandishing her own gun on Oxford Street. And she couldn’t shoot every drab housewife—she’d be here all day."
"Why was it that the females of the species were always the ones left to tidy up? she wondered. I expect Jesus came out of the tomb, Juliet thought, and said to his mother, 'Can you tidy it up a bit back there?'"
The revelations that come in the last quarter of the book change how we view Juliet and her actions, but fit them. Atkinson is adept at jumbling chronology in her books, and it works well again here. I ended up giving this one 4 and 1/2 stars. show less
There's a good bit of humor in the book. Here are a couple of examples.
"Juliet could only imagine the havoc she would cause show more if she started brandishing her own gun on Oxford Street. And she couldn’t shoot every drab housewife—she’d be here all day."
"Why was it that the females of the species were always the ones left to tidy up? she wondered. I expect Jesus came out of the tomb, Juliet thought, and said to his mother, 'Can you tidy it up a bit back there?'"
The revelations that come in the last quarter of the book change how we view Juliet and her actions, but fit them. Atkinson is adept at jumbling chronology in her books, and it works well again here. I ended up giving this one 4 and 1/2 stars. show less
Historical fiction about MI5-related agents and double agents during WWII but actually more about the ability to deceive. Protagonist Juliet Armstrong is an orphaned teen recruited by the British Secret Service to help monitor fascist sympathizers. She is a transcriptionist, typing up recorded conversations among an agent posing as a Gestapo spy, Godfrey Toby, and a group of Nazi supporters living in England. Juliet is recognized by her superiors as someone that could effectively lie and assume a separate identity (she perhaps was a pathological liar?) and assigns her a more active spying role. It is a dual timeline story, one set in early WWII in England and the other in 1950, when Juliet is working for the BBC, engaged in creating show more programs to educate children. Her past catches up with her and she feels threatened. Someone appears out to get her, and the list of possible candidates is lengthy.
Based on declassified documents of MI5, Kate Atkinson has extrapolated upon and fictionalized events while keeping with the spirit of the time. This is a thinking person’s novel. It is unclear which people are agents and which are double-agents. We get a sense of the paranoia of the period, ripe with propaganda and wondering whom to trust. Is Godfrey Toby a double agent or does he just excel at his job? Filled with layers and complexities, the reader participates with Juliet in attempting to figure out who is threatening her. The writing is intelligent and intricate, containing depth and subtle humor. It is more than a spy novel. It is a book that inspires thoughtful reflection about deception and a person’s ability to hide behind masks. It successfully illustrates that truth often lies in that which is left unsaid.
I felt most engaged in the WWII part of the story, though I believe the 1950’s timeline was necessary to show her past catching up with her, and that once a spy, distrust lingers. To enjoy it to its fullest, I think the reader must be comfortable with an abundance of ambiguity.
Content warnings include language (not extensive), animal cruelty (one scene offstage), and violence (including murder). Recommended to those that enjoy layered, complex novels about deception where people and things may not be what they appear on the surface. This was my first reading of a novel by Kate Atkinson and it has inspired me to explore more of her works. show less
Based on declassified documents of MI5, Kate Atkinson has extrapolated upon and fictionalized events while keeping with the spirit of the time. This is a thinking person’s novel. It is unclear which people are agents and which are double-agents. We get a sense of the paranoia of the period, ripe with propaganda and wondering whom to trust. Is Godfrey Toby a double agent or does he just excel at his job? Filled with layers and complexities, the reader participates with Juliet in attempting to figure out who is threatening her. The writing is intelligent and intricate, containing depth and subtle humor. It is more than a spy novel. It is a book that inspires thoughtful reflection about deception and a person’s ability to hide behind masks. It successfully illustrates that truth often lies in that which is left unsaid.
I felt most engaged in the WWII part of the story, though I believe the 1950’s timeline was necessary to show her past catching up with her, and that once a spy, distrust lingers. To enjoy it to its fullest, I think the reader must be comfortable with an abundance of ambiguity.
Content warnings include language (not extensive), animal cruelty (one scene offstage), and violence (including murder). Recommended to those that enjoy layered, complex novels about deception where people and things may not be what they appear on the surface. This was my first reading of a novel by Kate Atkinson and it has inspired me to explore more of her works. show less
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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 show more 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. show less
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Kate Atkinson was born in York, and studied English Literature at the University of Dundee. She earned her Masters Degree from Dundee in 1974. She then went on to study for a doctorate in American Literature but she failed at the viva (oral examination) stage. After leaving the university, she took on a variety of jobs from home help to legal show more secretary and teacher. Her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, won the 1995 Whitbread Book of the Year ahead of Salman Rushdie's The Moor's Last Sigh and Roy Jenkins's biography of William Ewart Gladstone. It went on to be a Sunday Times bestseller. Since then, she has published another five novels, one play, and one collection of short stories. Her work is often celebrated for its wit, wisdom and subtle characterisation, and the surprising twists and plot turns. Her most recent work has featured the popular former detective Jackson Brodie. In 2009, she donated the short story Lucky We Live Now to Oxfam's 'Ox-Tales' project, four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors. Atkinson's story was published in the 'Earth' collection. In March 2010, Atkinson appeared at the York Literature Festival, giving a world-premier reading from an early chapter from her forthcoming novel Started Early, Took My Dog, which is set mainly in the English city of Leeds. Atkinson's bestselling novel, Life after Life, has won numerous awards, including the COSTA Novel Award for 2013. The follow-up to Life After Life is A God in Ruins and was published in 2015. This title won a Costa Book Award 2015 in the novel category. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Transcription
- Original title
- Transcription
- Original publication date
- 2018
- People/Characters*
- Juliet Armstrong
- Important places
- London, England, UK
- Important events
- World War II
- 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 harv... (show all)est, 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 ... (show all)when she handed over her money.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)‘Miss Armstrong? Miss Armstrong?’
- Blurbers*
- Yanagihara, Hanya
- Original language*
- Engels
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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