The Translator: one of the top thrillers of 2023 and of the month for The Sunday Times/Times

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Cupolas of St. Basil’s cathedral, Red Square (c) Harriet Crawley BookTrail the locations in The Translator This is my first read by the author, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We follow the story of Clive Franklin, a Russian language expert in the Foreign Office. He's then recruited to translate for the Prime Minister and travel to Moscow. There, he meets his ex-girlfriend Marina.

The best new thrillers for March 2023 — power politics in the

Marc writes (main picture): I specifically focused on the South Africa captain Siya Kolisi, far left, as he sung the national anthem, Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika, as he sings with so much passion and emotion. Crawley deftly plays off the influences of the old world and the modern age against each other in this story. She lavishes you with references to art, literature and music, and also brings you bang up to date with themes of state-of-the-art technology, which makes this story delightfully many-layered. There are darker emotions and intrigues galore to keep you on the edge of your seat, but also rich threads of love, passion, romance, loyalty and friendship that tie you completely to the fate of the protagonists and their endeavours. Set in Moscow and centred on a devastating Russian plot to sabotage the undersea communication cables linking the US to the UK, this is not only a sizzling and pacy thriller, but a passionate love story between two people determined to stop this cataclysmic act The Translator is an intricate, stylish political thriller brimful of poetry and love. Harriet Crawley’s storytelling is audacious and irresistible.” -- Rachel Polonsky, author of Molotov’s Magic Lantern My education was unusual. When I was still a teenager, from 14 to 16 years old, I was sent to European schools, where I was on the only foreigner, to learn French, German and Italian. This changed my life.

At 21, after I had graduated from King’s College, London (BA degree in History) I had a column from New York for the Daily Mail. I also had a regular slot on ‘Start the Week’, Radio 4. At the same time, I had a career in television, appearing on screen and interviewing people. Prescient and pacey, this book sizzles with the author’s expertise.”-- Edward Lucas, author of The New Cold War: Putin's Threat to Russia and the West This spy novel would be super on the telly! Crawley speaks Russian and lived and worked in Moscow for years, so her vision of Moscow should be spot on. When Clive Franklin is seconded to accompany the Prime Minister on an important trip, little does he know that he will meet his old lover Marina again across the table during negotiations, nor that he'll be the go-between for information about a Russian threat to the transatlantic cables that link North America and Europe from Marina. Will they get out alive? This was a really great read with many a twist and plenty of jeopardy. Loved it.

The Translator by Harriet Crawley | Book review | The TLS

The central character voted for her because he "is tired of men destroying the planet", he voted for her merely "because she was a woman". The idea of making two interpreters the key protagonists came right at the very start, no doubt because I had spent hours grappling with impossible Russian grammar, and was addicted to the language, even though my Russian was far from perfect. Our hero would be the translator (he hates the word ‘interpreter’) assigned to the British Prime Minister, while our heroine would act as interpreter for the Russian President. Written by an insider, Harriet Crawley lived in Moscow for many years, working in the energy sector at a time of exploding wealth concentration and increasingly violent political repression. Because I could speak these languages, I was commissioned aged 18, to write a book about the student riots of 1968. The book, called A Degree of Defiance, was published in 1969 when I was 20. I also wrote several major feature articles for the Daily Mail about the 1968 student riots in Paris. We’ve heard of some unusual writing habits over the years, what would you say is your most interesting writing quirk?Boris Johnson said that the pandemic was “nature’s way of dealing with old people”, the Covid inquiry was told yesterday as his former aide laid bare the chaos and toxic in-fighting at the heart of government. Dominic Cummings said that “pretty much everyone” referred to the former prime minister... Boris Johnson said that the pandemic was “nature’s way of dealing with old people”, the Covid inquiry was told yesterday as his former aide laid bare the chaos and toxic in-fighting at the heart of government. Dominic Cummings said that “pretty much everyone” referred to the former prime minister... Boris Johnson said that the pandemic was “nature’s way of dealing with old people”, the Covid inquiry was told yesterday as his... My last home in Russia was a light-filled apartment in the heart of Moscow, at 25 Tverskaya, which I bequeathed to Marina. Writing about my wonderful flat was cathartic. I felt I had never left; I was on the landing, talking to my friend, the concierge, Oxana… You lived in Russia for a significant amount of time – what influence do you think living there has had on your writing?

Harriet Crawley – The Translator Book Of The Month: Harriet Crawley – The Translator

The UK prime minister in this story is a woman which in and of itself is nothing to complain about. A chance remark here in London made everything fall in place: a former diplomat in Moscow told me, ‘At top level negotiations between heads of state, the interpreters are invisible. Non-people. But they see and hear everything.’ UK: Rishi Sunak hosts talks with Kamala Harris, vice-president of the US, at No 10, followed by a private dinner; Harris also delivers a policy speech on the future of AI at the US embassy in London; Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, speaks at the annual conference of the King’s Fund, a health think tank; start of Movember, the moustache-growing charity event held during November each year to raise funds and awareness for men’s health. We are delighted to reveal that our April Book of the Month is the thrilling The Translator by Harriet Crawley.I honestly don’t think you can say anything to a young writer except, write. Write and keep writing. You will find your own voice.

The Translator - Harriet Crawley

I started learning Russian at the age of 45, and I am still learning, and it is my fifth language, so the idea to make two interpreters my main characters was irresistible. Interpreters keep to the shadows; they are seldom noticed, or remembered, and yet they see and hear everything. I got the central storyline – a Russian plot to sabotage the internet cables which link the UK to the US – from a report written for the Policy Exchange think tank in 2017, called: Undersea Cables: Indispensable, insecure. The author was a little-known MP called Rishi Sunak! I had my plot. I had my characters. I also had a love story. The two interpreters had worked together 15 years earlier in the UN; they had fallen in love, and were about to do so all over again. The genre would be ‘suspense fiction’, a term coined by the great Patricia Highsmith, and one I prefer to ‘thriller’.From my front window I could almost glimpse St. Basil’s. Almost, but not quite. But I carried the cupolas in my mind’s eye. Their twisted shapes seemed to mirror the twisted mind of the Russian President in my book. A highly topical thriller about a Russian plot to cut the undersea communication cables linking the US to the UK. Also, a passionate love story between two people determined to stop this cataclysmic act.