'A whole lot more than just a spy thriller, wrapping together the ties of family, of love and of country' Barack Obama 'There has never been anything like it' Marlon James 'A compelling read' Mail on Sunday What if your sense of duty required you to betray the man you love? It's 1986, the heart of the Cold War. Marie Mitchell is an intelligence officer with the FBI. She's brilliant and talented, but she's also a black woman working in an all-white boys' club, and her career has stalled with routine paperwork - until she's recruited to a shadowy task force aimed at undermining Thomas Sankara, the charismatic, revolutionary president of Burkina Faso, whose Communist ideology has made him a target for American intervention. In the year that follows, Marie will observe Thomas, seduce him, and ultimately, have a hand in the coup that will bring him down. But doing so will change everything she believes about what it means to be a spy, a lover, and a good American. Why it's on The Cornrow? We adore books here at The Cornrow HQ, for reading, for sharing and for shelfie styling! We have given a lot of thought into curating the edit of books on our site. They are diverse (of course!) but also wonderfully written, fun or extremely informative (if not all four!)
What if your sense of duty required you to betray the man you love? It’s 1986, the heart of the Cold War, and Marie Mitchell is an intelligence officer with the FBI. She’s brilliant, but she’s also a young black woman working in an old boys’ club. Her career has stalled out, she’s overlo
Lauren Wilkinson, author of our June pick for the NewsHour-New York Times book club, Now Read This, joins Jeffrey Brown to answer reader questions about “American Spy.”
'A whole lot more than just a spy thriller, wrapping together the ties of family, of love and of country' Barack Obama 'There has never been anything like it' Marlon James 'A compelling read' Mail on Sunday What if your sense of duty required you to betray the man you love? It's 1986, the heart of the Cold War. Marie Mitchell is an intelligence officer with the FBI. She's brilliant and talented, but she's also a black woman working in an all-white boys' club, and her career has stalled with routine paperwork - until she's recruited to a shadowy task force aimed at undermining Thomas Sankara, the charismatic, revolutionary president of Burkina Faso, whose Communist ideology has made him a target for American intervention. In the year that follows, Marie will observe Thomas, seduce him, and ultimately, have a hand in the coup that will bring him down. But doing so will change everything she believes about what it means to be a spy, a lover, and a good American. Why it's on The Cornrow? We adore books here at The Cornrow HQ, for reading, for sharing and for shelfie styling! We have given a lot of thought into curating the edit of books on our site. They are diverse (of course!) but also wonderfully written, fun or extremely informative (if not all four!)
About the Book "It's 1986, the heart of the Cold War, and Marie Mitchell is an intelligence officer with the FBI. She's brilliant, but she's also a young black woman working in an old boys' club. Her career has stalled out, she's overlooked for every high-profile squad, and her days are filled with monotonous paperwork. So when she's given the opportunity to join a shadowy task force aimed at undermining Thomas Sankara, the charismatic revolutionary president of Burkina Faso whose Communist ideology has made him a target for American intervention, she says yes. Yes, even though she secretly admires the work Sankara is doing for his country. Yes, even though she is still grieving the mysterious death of her sister, whose example led Marie to this career path in the first place. Yes, even though a furious part of her suspects she's being offered the job because of her appearance and not her talent. In the year that follows, Marie will observe Sankara, seduce him, and ultimately have a hand in the coup that will bring him down. But doing so will change everything she believes about what it means to be a spy, a lover, a sister, and a good American"-- Book Synopsis "American Spy updates the espionage thriller with blazing originality."--Entertainment Weekly"There has never been anything like it."--Marlon James, GQ"So much fun . . . Like the best of John le Carré, it's extremely tough to put down."--NPR NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY CHICAGO TRIBUNE AND ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review - Time - NPR - Entertainment Weekly - Esquire - BuzzFeed - Vulture - Real Simple - Good Housekeeping - The New York Public Library What if your sense of duty required you to betray the man you love? It's 1986, the heart of the Cold War, and Marie Mitchell is an intelligence officer with the FBI. She's brilliant, but she's also a young black woman working in an old boys' club. Her career has stalled out, she's overlooked for every high-profile squad, and her days are filled with monotonous paperwork. So when she's given the opportunity to join a shadowy task force aimed at undermining Thomas Sankara, the charismatic revolutionary president of Burkina Faso whose Communist ideology has made him a target for American intervention, she says yes. Yes, even though she secretly admires the work Sankara is doing for his country. Yes, even though she is still grieving the mysterious death of her sister, whose example led Marie to this career path in the first place. Yes, even though a furious part of her suspects she's being offered the job because of her appearance and not her talent. In the year that follows, Marie will observe Sankara, seduce him, and ultimately have a hand in the coup that will bring him down. But doing so will change everything she believes about what it means to be a spy, a lover, a sister, and a good American. Inspired by true events--Thomas Sankara is known as "Africa's Che Guevara"--American Spy knits together a gripping spy thriller, a heartbreaking family drama, and a passionate romance. This is a face of the Cold War you've never seen before, and it introduces a powerful new literary voice.NOMINATED FOR THE NAACP IMAGE AWARD - Shortlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize "Spy fiction plus allegory, and a splash of pan-Africanism. What could go wrong? As it happens, very little. Clever, bracing, darkly funny, and really, really good."--Ta-Nehisi Coates "Inspired by real events, this espionage thriller ticks all the right boxes, delivering a sexually charged interrogation of both politics and race."--Esquire "Echoing the stoic cynicism of Hurston and Ellison, and the verve of Conan Doyle, American Spy lays our complicities--political, racial, and sexual--bare. Packed with unforgettable characters, it's a stunning book, timely as it is timeless."--Paul Beatty, Man Booker Prizewinning author of The Sellout Review Quotes "An expertly written spy thriller . . . that tackles issues of politics, race and gender . . . Like the best of John le Carré, it's extremely tough to put down. It marks the debut of an immensely talented writer who's refreshingly unafraid to take risks, and has the skills to make those risks pay off."--NPR "For the novel's engaging intelligence and serious reckoning with the world's postwar order, Wilkinson deserves the comparisons to John le Carré she's already receiving. But in bringing a virtually unheard-from fictional viewpoint to espionage literature, she has reinvigorated the genre."--Time "Lauren Wilkinson's American Spy, inspired by true events, is a thrilling, original read."--Real Simple "It might seem hyperbolic to say that this book is riveting and thrilling from the very first page, except that it totally is. . . . It's a refreshing take on an espionage story--No icy Russian tundra! A black female spy!--that's sexy and suspenseful in equal measure."--Samantha Irby, Marie Claire "Wilkinson takes readers down a path of danger, seduction and patriotism."--Essence "Lauren Wilkinson reminds us of a less-covered side of the Cold War with her debut set in 1986 Africa. FBI agent Marie Mitchell is stationed in Burkina Faso, and when she's assigned to shadow Thomas Sankara, 'Africa's Che Guevara, ' the personal, political and professional collide for her in unforgettable ways."--The Washington Post "A complex and powerful work . . . The espionage plot that eventually drives the action is only one component in this ambitious, multifaceted novel."--Shelf Awareness "An excellent spy novel that is unlike every other spy novel I've read. . . . This is a great read for fans of literary mystery, character driven novels, and historical fiction-especially focusing on history that never gets taught."--Book Riot "A gutsy new thriller . . . challenging boundaries is what brave fiction does, and Wilkinson proves confident enough to carry it off."--The New York Times "American Spy updates the espionage thriller with blazing originality."--Entertainment Weekly "[In] this genre-defying novel . . . Marie's journey into the moral and spiritual morass of espionage is inventive . . . Unlike the heroes of John Le Carré's novels, Marie must also grapple with the cognitive dissonance of serving a country in which she is regarded as a second-class citizen."--Vulture "An excitingly sharp debut novel by the talented newcomer Lauren Wilkinson . . . Rest assured that American Spy will not only keep you turning the pages, it will do much more than that. Wilkinson steeps her thriller in a complicated awareness of huge, thorny themes: race, Cold War amorality, the politics of our intelligence services and the ease with which we can become complicit with deeds we actually abhor."--NPR "Fresh Air" About the Author Lauren Wilkinson earned an MFA in fiction and literary translation from Columbia University, and has taught writing at Columbia and the Fashion Institute of Technology. She was a 2013 Center for Fiction Emerging Writers Fellow, and has also received support from the MacDowell Colony and the Djerassi Resident Artists Program. Wilkinson grew up in New York and lives on the Lower East Side. This is her first novel.
We share the latest accomplished authors, newest novels, fascinating fiction, and popular page-turners, as well as gift ideas for your bibliophile friends.
American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson; The Most Difficult Thing by Charlotte Philby; The Chain by Adrian McKinty; The Poison Garden by Alex Marwood; The Reunion by Guillaume Musso and The Lady in the Car With Glasses and a Gun by Sébastien Japrisot
A Philosophy of Ruin by Nicholas Mancusi has an overall rating of Rave based on 4 book reviews.
One Sentence Summary: A woman writes to her sons about her past as a spy in Burkina Faso during the late 1980s. Number of Pages: 289 Rating: a weak 3/5 stars Review: American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson could have been a better book. It was an interesting subject, but the writing was difficult to follow and interfered with my understanding of the plot. The book left me with questions, not because I was moved by the story and couldn't stop thinking about it, but because there were many loose ends that weren't tied up. There were a lot of ideas that came together to make this book, and those ideas didn't seem to fit together in a cohesive storyline. This book was meh.
Lauren Wilkinson's thrilling debut novel 'American Spy' about a young FBI officer Marie Mitchell who heads to Burkina Faso
From classic tales of espionage by John le Carré to real-life accounts of double agents, pick your poison when it comes to the perfect crime.
A Nigerian psychologist travels to a remote southern border town to uncover the truth about the murder of three university students in this "original and fast-paced thriller" (Lauren Wilkinson, author of American Spy). When Dr. Philip Taiwo is called on by a powerful Nigerian politician to investigate the public torture and murder of three university students in remote Port Harcourt, he has no idea that he’s about to be enveloped by a perilous case that is far from cold. Philip is not a detective. He’s an investigative psychologist, an academic more interested in figuring out the why of a crime than actually solving it. But when he steps off the plane and into the dizzying frenzy of the provincial airport, he soon realizes that the murder of the Okriki Three isn’t as straightforward as he thought. With the help of his loyal and streetwise personal driver, Chika, Philip must work against those actively conspiring against him to parse together the truth of what happened to these students. A thrilling and atmospheric mystery, and an unforgettable portrait of the contemporary Nigerian sociopolitical landscape, Lightseekers is a wrenching novel tackling the porousness between the first and third worlds, the enduring strength of tribalism and homeland identity, and the human need for connection in the face of isolation. DETAILS ISBN-13: 9780316536615 Publisher: Mulholland Books Publication Date: March 2, 2021 Pages: 432
