Året är 1940. 18-åriga Julia Armstrong blir motvilligt rekryterad till spionbranschen. Hon skickas till en obskyr liten avdelning där hon får i uppdrag att dokumentera brittiska nazisympatisörers förehavanden. Ett arbete som gör henne både utmattad och skräckslagen. Men efter krigets slut tar hon för givet att den perioden i hennes liv har förpassats till historien för alltid.

Tio år senare är hon radioproducent på BBC, när hon oväntat blir konfronterad med sitt förflutna. Nu utspelas ett annat slags krig, på ett annat slagfält, men Julia känner sig återigen hotad. Räkenskapens timme är slagen, och hon börjar äntligen förstå att det inte finns några handlingar utan konsekvenser.

This book was “meh”. Just enough in the characters and plot to keep me reading, but it suffered from an extreme case of dysthymia. There was no hope, no charm, no spark. Just doldrums until a lame climax and an ambiguous resolution. For a WWII fiction, you really need to go above and beyond to set yourself apart, and this book fell flat. ( )

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 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. ( )

In 1981 Juliet Armstrong, a woman in late middle-age, is hit by a car as she leaves a Shostakovich concert at the Wigmore Hall. An accident. Probably.

Back in 1940 the same Juliet Armstrong is recruited as a naive 18-year-old by MI5 as a clerical worker. From there she is scouted by the mysterious Perry to work eavesdropping on and transcribing the conversations of low-grade Nazi sympathisers lured to a bugged flat in Dolphin Square by Godfrey Toby, an MI5 officer posing as a Gestapo officer. Perry, whom Juliet hopes will sweep her off her feet, is very attentive to Juliet but his passion has strict limits. What has this to do with with the police officers who call on Perry asking him about his nightlife? Who is the louche Oliver Alleyne who wants her to keep an eye on Godfrey's behaviour? Who is the man in the astrakhan-collared raincoat that Godfrey has mysterious assignations with? Ten years later, when Juliet is a producer with BBC Schools, why do figures from her past keep crossing her path?

This is a novel about people who are never what they seem. It's an easy and entertaining read without any of the poignancy and depth of Kate Atkinson's previous wartime-based novel, Life After Life. The narrative skates along quite happily on the surface, like a cartoon spy story full of stereotypical spooks and monstrous villains. The presence of a hapless BBC manager called Prendergast recalls Waugh's Decline and Fall. It's not really like Decline and Fall; it's nowhere near as farcically funny for one thing, but it does have its share of darkly funny moments. I'm not completely sure that it comes off though.
( )

Started out strong but fizzled out. I think it's one I'll pick up again in the future but it just doesn't fit my mood at this time.