BOOK REVIEW: Transcription by Kate Atkinson

'Think of it as an adventure, Perry had said right at the beginning of all this. And it had seemed like one. A bit of a lark, she had thought. A Girls Own adventure.'
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 these years have been relegated to the past for ever.
Ten years later, now a producer at the BBC, Juliet is unexpectedly confronted by figures from her 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. 

Publisher: Doubleday

Pages: 333

Kate Atkinson is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. I was a huge fan of Life After Life and A God in Ruins so I was very excited to read her latest book. Transcription is wonderful. I really took my time with it as I read it over the busy Christmas period but I'm glad I didn't rush as I enjoyed it so much from start to end.
The main character is Juliet Armstrong, she's terribly British, no-nonsense and I was very fond of her by the end of the book. At the age of eighteen, Juliet is recruited by MI5 to work as a typist, transcribing the conversations between British Fascist sympathizers . As these things often played out, Juliet is soon given other duties and quickly finds herself at the centre of a tangled and dangerous web. We re-join her in 1950 where she is now working as a producer at the BBC. She thinks the war is long behind her but the past comes knocking on her door looking for answers and retribution.
I find Kate Atkinson's writing so compelling, it is wonderfully nostalgic as she discusses London during the war but she does not shy away from the horrors either. Atkinson covers bombings, murders and loss in such a clever way, her descriptions are sympathetic and full of emotion but also somehow matter of fact. Reading accounts from the war and talking to relatives who lived through it, I think she has it spot on. People were surrounded by tragedy during those years and it must have come to feel like some bizarre form of normality.
The espionage element of the book is fantastic and brilliantly subtle. There are so many instances where you are holding your breath as you just don't know what the outcome will be. Transcription is full of humour too, Atkinson slips it in in the most unexpected of places and she will have you laughing out loud.
I always get to the end of this author's books and want to shout about them from the rooftops! Transcription is wonderful, it is captivating and skilful,  you will not be disappointed.

BOOK REVIEW: A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson

First of all, I would like to apologise for the serious lack of blog posts! Life has been a little manic lately which has left me very little time for reading, I'm getting back on track though and I have some good reviews coming up plus a blog tour at the end of the month! Here's my review of A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson which I thought was excellent:

From the author of Life After Life, one of the top selling adult books of 2014, which explored the possibility of infinite chances, as Ursula Todd lived through the turbulent events in the last century again and again. In A God in Ruins, Atkinson turns her focus on Ursula's beloved younger brother Teddy, a would-be-poet, RAF bomber pilot; husband and father- as he navigates the perils of the 20th Century. For all Teddy endures in battle, his greatest challenge will be to face living in a future he never expected to have. A God in Ruins is a masterful companion to Life After Life, and will prove once again that Kate Atkinson is one of the finest novelists of our age.

Publisher: Doubleday

Pages: 460

Life After Life was one of my favourite books of 2014 so I was excited to hear that Kate Atkinson had written a companion novel, A God in Ruins. To be fair, you could read either book as a stand-alone but I highly recommend that you read both as they are simply brilliant.
Life After Life was focused on Ursula Todd but A God in Ruins is concerned with Ursula's brother Teddy who was a bomber pilot during the war. In Lifer After Life Teddy dies but A God in Ruins explores what would have happened if he had survived the war. It is such an interesting idea and so, so thought-provoking. Kate Atkinson goes back and forth between Ted's past and present, particularly focusing on his time in the war. The things that Teddy saw and took part in have changed him forever and ways in those around him are not even aware of. As Teddy tries to back to normality, we follow as he marries, brings up a daughter and then deals with the reality of getting older. I fell in love with Teddy and felt so protective of him. I felt so angry towards members of Ted's family, especially his daughter Viola. They didn't seem to have a clue as to what he had endured during the war and it made me wander if they would hav
e had a different relationship with him had they known more.
The description of Teddy's missions were exemplary. The attention to detail and the way that Atkinson brought these situations to life was staggering. Some of the descriptions were quite upsetting but I think that they were very honest and necessary.
A God in Ruins explores so many different themes, as a reader you are given so much to think about. When I wasn't reading this book then I was constantly thinking about it and when I reached the final page I felt really sad as I didn't want to walk away from the characters; only a very special author can make you feel like that.
A God in Ruins is one of the best books I have read in 2015. Kate Atkinson has written a beautiful book that I know I will revisit again and again,

Book Review: Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

What if you had the chance to live your life again and again, until you finally got it right? During a snowstorm in England in 1910, a baby is born and dies before she can take her first breath. During a snowstorm in 1910, the same baby is born and lives to tell the tale. What if there were second chances? And third chances? In fact, an infinite number of chances to live your life? Would you eventually be able to change the world from its own inevitable destiny? And would you even want to?

Publisher: Black Swan

Pages: 610 

I need to start this review with an apology as I know that I will not be able to do this book justice, so sorry about that but please do read on as I want everyone to read this book!
My only other experience of Kate Atkinson was reading Behind the Scenes at the Museum for GCSE English literature. I didn't like it. Looking back, I think I was too young to appreciate the wonderful nuances of Kate Atkinson's writing. Sadly this has led me to steering clear of this author ever since; that was until I read the intriguing blurb for Life After Life.

Gillian Flynn is quoted as saying:

"One of the best novels I've read this century."

I have to say that I feel exactly the same way. I am never giving my copy up as I know it is going to be re-read many times.
The protagonist, Ursula Todd, is born again and again on 11th February 1910. She is born into the same family each time but her life varies greatly in each instance. For example, in one she doesn't even make it through the birth; in another she develops into a young woman who assassinates Hitler thus preventing the war; in another she is a down trodden housewife and then we also see her growing up to live in Germany during the war, even finding a place in Hitler's inner sanctum.
Life After Life is one of the most fascinating books I have ever read. It took me a good few chapters to get my head round the concept but once I had stopped questioning Ursula's constant rebirth, I was utterly gripped and swept away with the story. The concept though, cannot be ignored and I felt that whilst I was enjoying the story, the idea of reincarnation was constantly buzzing away in the background. I have not read a book for a long time that has given me so much to think about; a book that has made me look and question the choices I have made in my own life, the inevitable What if?
In the author's note at the end of the book, Kate Atkinson said that she had always wanted to write a book about the idea of Hitler not coming to power but she did not want it to be cliched as it so easily could. She said that she wanted to write:

"...something downright trickier, something multi layered and slightly fractal..."

I felt that she went above and beyond that; the book has so many different layers; as a reader it was a delight to be constantly presented with something new even though the book is repetitive in its nature.
There's just so much to talk about with this book, as I said, my review will not do it justice. The aspect that stood out to me was Kate Atkinson's descriptions of the Blitz in London and on the other side, the destruction in Berlin. These descriptions took up a large part of the book and they were exceptional. I thought that Kate Atkinson captured the human aspect of war; the innocent victims caught up in it. Ordinary domestic situations obliterated to extraordinary tragedy.
I cannot urge you to read Life After Life enough, I know that I will discover more and more each time I read it. I think I will be spending the next few months catching up with Kate Atkinson's other books, let me know if you have any particular favourites!