There was some hard editing yet to come, but also the reward of finding a brilliant independent publisher in Bitter Lemon Press. And 29 years after publishing my last book, here is another. As my elder brother always told me, ‘Life is a long-distance race.’

The Translator - RCW Literary Agency The Translator - RCW Literary Agency

How do your characters develop? Do you find that your characters take on a life of their own when you are writing? Or are you always completely in control of what they say and do? Fast-paced political-cum-spy thriller with a chilling ring of authenticity and an eerie closeness to present events in Ukraine. Unputdownable”---Xan Smiley, The Economist. The British PM might be a woman in this novel and Serov might be Putin by any other name, the acuity and similarities for readers cannot be overlooked. There is Russian interference, blame and bluster, fudging and smoke screens, threats and counter-threats that all feel so depressingly familiar from contemporary international relations in the real world, the deviousness is excellently captured in this novel. First and foremost, I wanted to be a writer. The crime/suspense element came later. My first novel, The Goddaughter was published by Weidenfeld in 1975. My second novel, The Lovers and The Loved was published by Heineman in 1990. These are straightforward novels, love stories.

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I saw this title in a second hand bookshop, after reading the blurb i thought this is my kind of book. I thoroughly enjoyed it! Set in 2017, the story centres on Clive Franklin, a Russian language expert in the Foreign Office, who is summoned unexpectedly to act as translator for the British Prime Minister on a visit to Moscow. His life is turned on its head when, after more than a decade, he discovers that his former lover, Marina Volina, is now the interpreter to the Russian President. 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’.

The Translator by Harriet Crawley | Goodreads

I doubt very much that I shall ever set foot in Russia again, but many Russian people and places are stamped on my heart. 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.Peredelkino- our dacha and first Russian home (c) Harriet Crawley BookTrail the locations in The Translator On reading this book, one could be forgiven for thinking you have heard all of it before, because, unless you avoid all uk news, you most probably have heard it all before. You may also opt to downgrade to Standard Digital, a robust journalistic offering that fulfils many user’s needs. Compare Standard and Premium Digital here. 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 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 turned on its head when, after more than a decade, he discovers that his former lover, Marina Volina, is now the interpreter to the Russian President.