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Enigma's Coda
Are you now, or have you ever been, Alan Turing?
Professor William Strange has a stellar academic career, beautiful house, wife and baby son, all of which is imperilled by his affair with the enigmatic Adriana Russett. He is convinced that she is the clue to strange dreams of the 1940s which jumble up the life of Alan Turing and a mission in which a flying boat sinks a German submarine. Was he the great mathematician in a previous life? His breakdown is somehow presaged by two major public events, the death of Princess Diana and the 9/11 attacks. But does any of this justify his affair?
Enigma’s Coda is a Two Cultures campus novel which juxtaposes the 2010s with the 1940s, exploring the very different assumptions of ordinary people in those eras regarding progress, sexuality and conflict. It is also about Englishness and class, referencing such classics as The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold, The Thirty-Nine Steps, and Brief Encounter, and more recent novels such as Ian McEwan’s Solar and David Lodge’s Thinks.... The reader is left to muse on whether or not reincarnation is real and a determinant in obsessive sexual entanglements.
Professor William Strange has a stellar academic career, beautiful house, wife and baby son, all of which is imperilled by his affair with the enigmatic Adriana Russett. He is convinced that she is the clue to strange dreams of the 1940s which jumble up the life of Alan Turing and a mission in which a flying boat sinks a German submarine. Was he the great mathematician in a previous life? His breakdown is somehow presaged by two major public events, the death of Princess Diana and the 9/11 attacks. But does any of this justify his affair?
Enigma’s Coda is a Two Cultures campus novel which juxtaposes the 2010s with the 1940s, exploring the very different assumptions of ordinary people in those eras regarding progress, sexuality and conflict. It is also about Englishness and class, referencing such classics as The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold, The Thirty-Nine Steps, and Brief Encounter, and more recent novels such as Ian McEwan’s Solar and David Lodge’s Thinks.... The reader is left to muse on whether or not reincarnation is real and a determinant in obsessive sexual entanglements.
280 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 3, 2016
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September 26, 2024I saw Mike King speak at the Ipswich unconvention in 2018. He lives and works locally and has a diverse range of scholastic and ‘lay’ interests including books about screenwriting and the Quakers and economics! This is his first fiction book - I think - but is set squarely (well maybe not squared-away!) in a recognisable world, notably mathematical research and mental illness in the modern-day segment, and Alan Turing’s Enigma code-breaking and flying boats in the split personality/past-life segment. The plot is contrived but not overly complicated and just about works in IMHO.
Enigma’s Coda is a, ‘Two Cultures campus novel’ (who knew there was such a thing!) which follows the mental, personal and professional unravelling of brilliant mathematician William Strange … and eventual redemption. He is haunted by dreams and apparent links with Alan Turing (‘Are you, or have you ever been Alan Turing?’) and wartime flying boat missions from Lake Windermere. Although, strangely he experiences the historical dreams and later multiple voices in the persona of engineer Peter and not Turing. And in both worlds there is an inappropriate girlfriend, both of which fail for different reasons. I don’t know if the psychology and psychiatry are realistic, or are we to believe in reincarnation or some distortion in time between the 2 periods?
I enjoyed the book, especially the geeky bits about Turing and his early works on AI, but it may not be to everyone’s taste - that said I have someone in mind to get it next!
Enigma’s Coda is a, ‘Two Cultures campus novel’ (who knew there was such a thing!) which follows the mental, personal and professional unravelling of brilliant mathematician William Strange … and eventual redemption. He is haunted by dreams and apparent links with Alan Turing (‘Are you, or have you ever been Alan Turing?’) and wartime flying boat missions from Lake Windermere. Although, strangely he experiences the historical dreams and later multiple voices in the persona of engineer Peter and not Turing. And in both worlds there is an inappropriate girlfriend, both of which fail for different reasons. I don’t know if the psychology and psychiatry are realistic, or are we to believe in reincarnation or some distortion in time between the 2 periods?
I enjoyed the book, especially the geeky bits about Turing and his early works on AI, but it may not be to everyone’s taste - that said I have someone in mind to get it next!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 16, 2019
William is an excellent mathematician whose life changes after he has seen the 9/11 events from an aircraft he was waiting in to leave the airport in America. He begins an affair after he and his wife has a child, and he starts to have dreams about a Sunderland flying boat landing on water and another where he is asked 'are you, or have you ever been Turing?'
It is an interesting look at what living with mental health problems can affect someone.
It is an interesting look at what living with mental health problems can affect someone.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews