Transcription by Kate Atkinson - anyone read it?

[HelloViroids]

I finished it yesterday and I’m confused by the ending!

Hopeful bump

Yes I've read it and really enjoyed it, but I can't help as I was also confused by the ending!!

@thedevilsavocado thank goodness
SPOILERS FOLLOW!
So was your take that Judith was a Soviet spy at the end? And had she been all along, or only post-war?!

Yes! @HelloViroids I read it that she has been working as a kind of double agent all along. But then I thought, that can't be right!!

Final hopeful bump...

Hmm.... www.tripfiction.com/novel-set-during-and-post-ww2-london/ left up in the air... wasn't my favourite KA read overall

My reading of it was yes, she was a double agent throughout. Merton is himself a double agent, who deliberately stepped in to her interview so that he could recruit her to the Soviet "double agent" role as well as the British job. She works for the Russians during the war, then tries to stop but is continually asked to do one last job (for both sides, in fact). She is caught because she makes copies of the materials the Czech defector (the flamingo) brings with him, whilst he's staying at her house, and passes them on to her Soviet handler, and MI5 (or MI6, I'm not good at following which is doing what here) finds out.

spoilers below, just in case anyone who hasn't read it clicks by mistake

so, what was going on when juliet went to finchley? the housewife was a sham? but so, weirdly, was the elderly neighbour who revealed to juliet that the house had been empty for months? what were mi5 aiming to achieve here?

and why did mrs ambrose tip up in finchley - if mi5 were watching juliet surely they wouldnt have done that, as it would be bound to put juliet on her guard?

I'm a mahoosive Kate Atkinson fan but really,didn't like Transcription

I found it dull, repetitive and complacent.

The new Jackson Brodie book is,out this year and I'm sure all,will be redeemed!

great news about Jackson Brodie - I thought the last one was the last, iyswim, so delighted KA's going to write another.

At risk of more spoilers....

Why did Mr T stand and watch her escape at the end? Given that he had been the one to identify her, didn't he have some kind of interest in her being made to stick around to help mi5? I could see why Perry helped her - they'd at least had a 'kind of' relationship in 1940 - but she wasn't particularly close to Mr T. (I know I should be able to work out some explanation based on 'oh he obviously realised they were all morally equivalent' - but I want it spelled out!')

I have just finished this and I’ve no idea what happened really. My least favourite Kate Atkinson.

Really enjoyed this, I see a few people didn’t but I thought it was clever… if confusing in places.

Juliette was a bit of a loner wasn’t she, no real friends as such.

H was a double agent all along as per @Welshwabbit

As well as the weirdness with the housewife / old neighbour / Ambrose… Were they just trying to confuse Juliette???

If any of the posters are coming back to this thread (I need to know if someone’s worked it out!) - I was intrigued by the identity of the final unknown double agent amongst the cast - she hints it’s someone we obviously know - so was it Godfrey or Perry?? They both were aware of her escape. I need to know!

Also - are we supposed to know the identity of her son’s (Matteo?) father or not?

J was a double agent - not H.

Didn’t care for it. But I also didn’t like Life After Life as I can’t stand books where people keep dying and then being born again. Gave up on the Time Travellers Wife.

I can see why the technique could be annoying…

I keep thinking about the flipping book!

This is my least favourite KA book.
She is, by far, my favourite author but I just couldn’t get into Transcription and found it generally, a bit dull.

I enjoyed this. However, I really struggled with Life After Life and gave up early. Is it worth trying again?