It is next door to this flat that Juliet and her team listen to the conversations. The meetings take place in a flat that is bugged. In 1940, shortly after the death of her mother, Juliet Armstrong is recruited by MI5 to transcribe recorded meetings between a group of facist sympathisers and a spy named Godfrey Toby whom they believe to be a Gestapo agent. The protagonist, Juliet Armstrong is only 18 years old, a time that is difficult enough for most to know who they are as person without the complications of having to live the life of a fictitious person. It is also in a way a coming of age novel. There are so many identities in the novel based on lies that it becomes apparent their true identities are difficult for even themselves to determine. Transcription is a gripping spy novel not just for the escapades of those living a double life but for its intricate insight into their lies and the invention of another self. In particular the girl who would have transcribed the secret meetings and what part she had to play in stopping the Nazis. The story alone of a Westminster Bank clerk becoming a spy could definitely have had depth, however it was the transcriptions of these meetings which enthralled Atkinson. While researching the National Archives, Atkinson came across details of an MI5 spy who had infiltrated fascist groups and had prevented information getting to the Nazis during World War 2. It’s thanks to a bank clerk of the name Eric Roberts that ‘Transcription’ by Kate Atkinson came to fruition.
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