On Writing THE TRANSLATOR by Harriet Crawley

April 26, 2024 | By Women Writers Women Books | Reply More

I am no spring chicken. The reason I mention this is that I am sure there are many women who want to write, or who, like me, have written in the past, then left a long gap and now they wonder if they are too old. The short answer is no.

I was 68 years old when I sat down to write this book. My last book was also a novel but it had been published almost a quarter of a century earlier. In terms of writing, I had nothing to show in between. I asked myself, “Can I do it?” Deep down I knew that I could, and what’s more, this time it would be better.

And I was right. “The Translator” came out in hardback in 2023 in the UK and had excellent reviews and is now in paperback and available in the US.

Was I surprised by the success? Yes. On the other hand, I knew this book had something special: an insider’s knowledge of Russia, a country which I loved and where I had lived and worked for twenty years. For five of those years, I was married to a Russian; I sent my English son to a Russian state school, lived in a village outside Moscow, worked as an art dealer, then moved to the centre of Moscow and worked in the energy sector. I had Russian friends of all ages, and from all backgrounds.

For twenty years I travelled all over Russia, the world’s largest country, with eleven time zones. Twice I took the Trans-Siberian train from Moscow to Vladivostok. I visited the White Sea and the Black Sea, skied on Mount Elbrus, watched an ice-marathon on Lake Baikal, rode a horse in the Altai mountains, and in a moment of madness I flew eight hours to the coldest inhabited city on earth, Yakutz, in mid-January where the temperature was minus 52.

I knew I had enough material for a novel, but what sort of book would it be? I decided to try my hand at what Patricia Highsmith called, “suspense fiction”.

I have always been interested in politics, which tends to be predominantly male territory, but, undeterred, I decided to plunge into the heart of government, and set my story inside the Kremlin, and in no.10 Downing Street.

Who would my protagonists be? Not spies. I did not feel qualified to trespass into the world of espionage. I could dabble in it (and I did) but as an amateur. No, my hero and my heroine (a love story was already taking shape) had to be people who shared my interest in literature and language. On Russian television I saw the Foreign Minister at a conference; next to him was a woman interpreter. This got me thinking. Interpreters keep to the shadows, but they see and hear everything.

My interpreters would be at the top of their game: Marina, the favourite interpreter of the Russian president, and Clive, interpreter for the British Prime Minister, but he also translates Chekhov short stories, and likes to think of himself as a translator. Once upon a time Marina and Clive had shared a great love. At a meeting in Moscow between the Russian President and the British Prime Minister, they meet again, and rekindle their passion. A love story. Deep down, I always knew The Translator had to be a love story.

As for characterization, I wanted Marina to be blazingly independent, very clever, quick witted and resourceful. I made her single, unmarried and childless, with two foster sons (one dead, one alive). Her ‘family’ life needed to be simple, unencumbered. Also, she had to be international and sophisticated, so she speaks several languages and knows a lot about literature and art. She is also tough, mentally and physically: a marathon runner.

In Clive I wanted an anti-hero who did not seek the limelight; a man who liked the shadows. But he also had to be a romantic, with a touch of eccentricity. Clive is quiet, unassuming, but resolute, loyal and brave.

I chose a simple plot: Marina wants to get out of Russia. To do so she decides to betray her country and pass on to Clive state secrets.

What state secrets? Here I hit a brick wall, until, in November 2017 I read a paper published by the Policy Exchange think tank, called Undersea Cables: Indispensable , Insecure with a forward written by Admiral Janes Stavridis, USN (Ret), former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Europe. This research paper warns of the vulnerability of undersea cables to Russian attack, and if such an attack were to happen it would deal “a crippling blow to Britain’s security and prosperity. The threat is nothing short of existential.” The author of this alarming report was, at the time, an unknown Member of Parliament by the name of Rishi Sunak.

So, it was the current British Prime Minister who gave me my plot! In my story, Marina would discover that Russian drone submarines were about to cut the internet cables under the Atlantic, and, if successful, this attack would bring the Western economy to its knees.

I decided to set my story in 2017, before this dreadful war against Ukraine, in a gentler, more peaceful world. There was much more research to come, about submarines, and how much data travels through the undersea cables (97% of internet traffic goes under the sea, only 3% via satellite) all of which I enjoyed, as I drew on the patience of countless friends.

I lucked out in finding a superb independent publisher, Bitter Lemon Press. The reaction to the book was 100% positive. I don’t recall a single bad review, or even a lukewarm review. I had that strange feeling of being patted on the back by all sorts of strangers. I was stunned, humbled, and delighted, all at once.

So ladies of a certain age, open the laptop and get started!

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THE TRANSLATOR

The Sunday Times: Best Thrillers of 2023. Financial Times: Best Summer Thrillers of 2023. “A classic thriller of the new Cold War.” Antony Beevor, author of Stalingrad.A highly topical espionage novel 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.
Clive Franklin, a Russian language expert in the Foreign Office, is summoned unexpectedly to Moscow to act as translator for the British Prime Minister. His life is upended when he discovers that his former lover, Marina Volina, is the interpreter to the Russian President. Together they will try to stop the attack that could paralyze communications and collapse the Western economy.