Onyx reviews: Transcription by Kate Atkinson

Reviewed by Bev Vincent, 08/29/2018

Two books published this year have dealt with the aftereffects of working for British intelligence during World War II. First there was Warlight by Michael Ondaatje, and now Kate Atkinson explores related territory.

Although this is something of a coming-of-age novel, Transcription begins with the apparent end of a life. Juliet Armstrong, 60, has just been hit by a car on a London street. It's 1981, on the eve of a Royal Wedding. Subtle hints about turmoil in the latter part of her life will only make sense when the repercussions of her earlier years are revealed.

The story jumps back to 1950 and alternates between then and the 1940s for the rest of the novel. Juliet is the producer of Schools, a children's series on BBC radio. She believes her wartime experiences with MI5 are behind her until she sees a man she believes to be the spy Godfrey Toby (who she also knows as John Hazeldine). However, when she confronts him, he says she's mistaken.

This sparks her curiosity, starting her on a journey to find people she encountered during the war. Then she receives a death threat, possibly from someone who was punished because of her involvement in an undercover operation. But why would they target her, a mere transcriptionist? Perhaps because a person can never truly extricate themselves from a spy agency; she is still occasionally called upon to provide safe harbor for defectors.

In 1942, 18-year-old orphan Juliet, smart but naive, is plucked from her mundane life into MI5. At first she toils in the Registry (located in the former Wormwood Scrubs prison) with other young women, doing little of importance. Then, one day, she is summoned to an interview that leads to a new assignment, powered in large part by her willingness and ability to dissemble. MI5 has a deep undercover agent, the aforementioned Godfrey Toby, who traitorous British pro-fascists believe to be a Gestapo agent. The intelligence is using him as a magnet for fifth columnists. If they pass their espionage to Godfrey, it won't spread to the Germans. At the same time, they will be helping MI5 identify their network of Nazi sympathizers in Britain.

Juliet is installed in a flat in Dolphin Square adjacent to the one where Godfrey meets with the fascist sympathizers. Her rather tedious task is to transcribe the recordings of these meetings. The targets of the investigation seem mostly disorganized and unthreatening. Gradually, her responsibilities are expanded, and she's asked to infiltrate the home of a fascist organizer, hoping to track down a list of organization members. At first it seems thrilling, but she gradually begins to understand the peril she and her colleagues are in. At the same time, she finds herself negotiating a complicated relationship with her boss, Perry Gibbons.

Atkinson's earlier books often highlighted the apparently random nature of reality, relying heavily on coincidence to propel the plot. Not so here: one thing leads directly to another. Cause and effect are in play. Juliet's activities on behalf of her country during the war set in motion consequences that will follow her the rest of her life. She's a quaint and charming protagonist, a friendly companion to accompany readers through a turbulent time when circumstances caused people to do questionable things for which they later may have to account.

That's not to say Atkinson isn't above a little winking and nodding. Near the end of the novel, as things are being explained both to Juliet and to readers, a character says, "Quite enough of exposition and explanation. We're not approaching the end of a novel, Miss Armstrong." And, although the book is set over half a century in the past, it contains a strong message for today. "Do not equate nationalism with patriotism," Juliet's boss tells her. "Nationalism is the first step on the road to Fascism."