\’Shrines of Gaiety’ by Kate Atkinson   (2022) – 390 pages

At the center of ‘Shrines of Gaiety’ is fictional character Nellie Coker, owner of five successful nightclubs in London during 1926 including her flagship, The Amethyst. Her six children are all involved in running the clubs. After the brutal World War I, nearly everyone in London wanted to go out again and enjoy themselves.

“Men were not unwelcome, but women often partnered each other – something that was not unusual in the wider world either, as the war had taken so many men from the dance floor and never returned them.”

Each of the nightclubs had young women available to dance with the male patrons for a drink or a small amount of money.

“Nothing was free in Nellie’s world, not even love. Perhaps especially not love.”

Meanwhile out on the streets, Detective Chief Inspector Frobisher is concerned about the number of young women who are disappearing only to be found floating dead in the water later.

“It was the girls. Girls were disappearing in London. At least five he knew about had vanished over the last few weeks.”

Thus we have the contrast of the spectacular sparkle and gaiety of the nightclubs versus the brutal murders of young women.

Frobisher hires the intrepid young woman Gwendolen Kelling to go underground to investigate Nellie Coker’s nightclub operations. Frobisher knows that besides the always-present crime element in London, some on the police force are also on the take.

Meanwhile 15 year-old girls Freda and Florence decide to run away from their homes in York together to London. After her money runs out, Freda lies about her age and gets a job dancing with the men at one of Nellie’s clubs.

As you can tell from the above, there are a vast number of characters, both major and minor, in ‘Shrines of Gaiety’, and it is indeed remarkable how Kate Atkinson gives each character his or her due. This novel is teeming with interesting lives; one could say that it is Dickensian.

The many scenes support the various plot threads, and each scene is presented in a manner that was fascinating to this reader. It’s like a large jigsaw puzzle where each little piece fits into its place to make an almost perfect whole. The stories of so many characters come alive on the page and all somehow fit together.

‘Shrines of Gaiety’ is a superior entertainment.

Grade:    A

Big Sky’ by Kate Atkinson   (2019) – 400 pages

There is nothing really wrong with ‘Big Sky’. It is an entertainment with a lot of English cute along the way. But the novel is so busy showing the idiosyncrasies of its large cast of quirky characters that it has no time for any real depth. You almost need a scorecard to keep track of all the folks running around.

This time detective Jackson Brodie has moved to the northeastern coast of England and while watching for a possible wayward husband is reluctantly on the trail of a sex trafficking ring which supplies young girls from other countries for some of Britain’s elites. The sex trafficking ring is made up of three small-time criminals who conveniently are not involved in any of the actual sexual abuse so that they and their family members can also be portrayed as cute. Since the sexual abuse is never portrayed, ‘Big Sky’ can keep its characteristic light sense of humor. Instead of sex abuse we get loads of physical violence.

Along the way of this very tangled plot there are some humorous lines:

“You would have thought that getting divorced from a woman would free you from the obligation of identifying her corpse, but apparently not.”

Since Jackson Brodie is a recurring character in a series of novels, we find references to other extraneous events here. Also there are more recurring characters including Brodie’s family and the two female policewomen Ronnie and Reggie. The subplots concerning Jackson’s family are probably of great interest to Jackson Brodie fans but not so much to the rest of us readers.

‘Big Sky’ is a whirlwind of English persons and plot lines. ‘Big Sky’ is so busy with its multitude of eccentric characters to have any profundity. It is all on the surface. Atkinson would have to slow down, simplify her story, and drastically reduce the number of characters in order to achieve any real depth. This is a crowd pleaser which is not a bad thing, but that’s all it is.

I still very much admire Kate Atkinson’s more literary novels such as ‘Life After Life’ and ‘Behind the Scenes at the Museum’. However Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie novels do not have the depth of for instance Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache detective series, so from now on I will probably stick with Atkinson’s more literary novels and avoid her detective novels.

Grade:   B

‘Transcription’ by Kate Atkinson (2018) – 329 pages

England faced a severe Fascist threat in 1940 just like it does today. At that time the threat was from Germany instead of Russia. ‘Transcription’ is a novel about spying on fifth column British Fascists who were secretly trying to help Hitler and Germany during World War II.

“Do not equate Nationalism with Patriotism. Nationalism is the first step on the Road to Fascism.”

So much depends on an intelligent personable voice to carry a novel. Juliet Armstrong is that vivacious voice in ‘Transcription’. She was only eighteen when she started with the British spy organization M15 as a typist and soon she is recruited for a special mission transcribing conversations taking place in an adjacent bugged hotel room between M15 agent Godfrey Toby and assorted British Fascists. Later she becomes even more heavily involved in the dangerous spy work.

“It must be awfully handy to have a scapegoat for the world’s ills. Women and the Jews tend to be first in line, unfortunately.”

Most of the first half of ‘Transcription’ is taken up with Juliet Armstrong’s work with these operations for M15 and the various people she works with and also some of the British Fascists. I found this part of the novel entirely fascinating and high energy. We get a captivating picture and insight into the various individuals who make up this operation as well as those who are being spied on. Certainly the equipment used to bug the hotel room was primitive by today’s standards, but that’s part of the fun.

In her M15 work Juliet ultimately gets involved in some dangerous grisly situations.

Later we jump forward to 1950, and the war is over. Juliet is now working for the BBC as a radio producer. Somehow the characters and situation at the BBC don’t have quite the impact of those in M15. For one thing Juliet naturally has somewhat of a condescending attitude toward her BBC work which is of course nowhere near as exciting as her time at M15. Later her M15 connection comes back to haunt her even during peacetime.

‘Transcription’ is a compelling read, perhaps not quite at the level of Atkinson’s amazing ‘Life After Life’ or ‘Behind the Scenes at the Museum’, but still gripping and engaging.

Intelligent fun. That is why I read Cervantes. That’s why I read Chekhov. That’s why I read Shakespeare. That’s why I read Kate Atkinson.

Grade :   A-