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American Spy

"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, ...

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  • The Sip: Cinnamon-spiced cocoa
  • The Cookie: Snickerdoodle
  • The Cozy: Travel throw, reading pillow or escape-ready nook
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.
LW
Lauren Wilkinson

Lauren Wilkinson is an American novelist and educator known for blending espionage, historical fiction, political intrigue, and deeply personal storytelling. Her work places complex Black characters at the center of stories about loyalty, ambition, identity, family, love, and the difficult choices people make when their personal lives collide with larger forces.

Wilkinson is the author of *American Spy*, a critically acclaimed espionage novel inspired in part by real Cold War history. The novel follows Marie Mitchell, a Black FBI intelligence officer recruited for a covert operation involving Thomas Sankara, the revolutionary president of Burkina Faso. Through Marie’s story, Wilkinson explores race and gender within American institutions alongside questions of patriotism, morality, motherhood, and whom a person chooses to trust.

For readers who enjoy spy novels but want more than missions and secret identities, Wilkinson offers suspense with emotional and historical depth. Her work is especially suited to readers drawn to morally complicated protagonists, Black history, international politics, family secrets, and stories that ask what happens when duty to your country conflicts with loyalty to yourself and the people you love.

See all book by Lauren Wilkinson

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