Transcription

Based on a true story, Transcription is about an English operation in 1940 to root out fifth columnists by recruiting them to report to a fake German spy. But rather than focus on the professional spies, Kate Atkinson was more interested in re-inventing the forgotten girl/s who typed the transcripts of those recorded meetings.

18-year old Juliet Armstrong's coming-of-age story at the beginning of WWII, her assimilation into spydom, and the fascinating relationship between a sexually curious Juliet and her closeted gay boss (constantly in danger of being discovered as both a spy and a gay man), makes for an engrossing story. Juliet has a remarkable inner voice that keeps a refreshing innocence to it (like her game of rhyming words to help remember them), and yet she's smart enough to see the insanity around her for what it is and mocks it with a grownup sarcasm. Better still is the audiobook version of Juliet, brilliantly read by Fenella Woolgar, who brings an incredible range of voices, including the same characters voiced at up to three different ages.

You see, the 1940 story is a near-perfect story, worth the read or listen for that alone. However, just before it can get to Juliet's horrible secret (it is a grizzly secret, and not Juliet's only secret either, it turns out), the story gets stuck in 1950 with an older Juliet working for the BBC. This is a weaker story than the first one. It delays the end of the 1940 story, which only gets teased to us in bits and pieces as 1950 Juliet recalls it. This stretching things out with a second story accounts for nearly half the book, but if you can get through the 1950 part, there is a mostly satisfying conclusion awaiting you (or, if listening to the audiobook, just enjoy discs 1-5 and 9).