Forthcoming
October 5, 2021
Forthcoming
June 14th, 2021
Latah Books
Spy Daughter, Queer Girl
by Leslie Absher
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Forthcoming: October 11, 2022
US Distribution: Ingram Content Group
Paperback: 978-1-957607-03-0 $19.95
eBook: 978-1-957607-04-7 $9.99
Publicist: Scott Manning & Associates
Latah Books Contact: Kevin Breen
Book Description:
For Leslie Absher, secrecy is just another member of the family. Throughout childhood, her father's shadowy government job was ill-defined, her mother's mental health stayed off limits--even her queer identity remained hidden from her family and unacknowledged by Leslie herself.
In SPY DAUGHTER, QUEER GIRL, Absher pursues the truth: of her family, her identity, and her father's role in Greece's CIA-backed junta. As a guide, Absher brings readers to the shade of plane trees in Greece, to queer discos in Boston, and to tense diner meals with her aging CIA father. As a memoirist, Absher renders a lifetime of hazy, shapeshifting truths in high-definition vibrance.
Infused with a journalist's tenacity and a daughter's open heart, this book recounts a decades' long process of discovery and the reason why the facts should matter to us all.
Praise for Spy Daughter, Queer Girl:
"Leslie tells her story with soul-searing honesty, plenty of self-deprecation and humour. In working through her own story, confronting her difficult past, she's revealed the human damage - most often to innocents - inflicted by the espionage "game" played out on the global chessboard."
--Ian Callaghan, producer of the Audible Original series My Dad the Spy
"Without a drop of sentimentality but with a giant heart and a fresh, assured voice, Absher explores the roles of memory, secrets, and the grief that comes from what we hide and what we leave behind—and what we simply cannot."
--Natalie Bakopoulos, associate professor and author of Scorpionfish and The Green Shore
Author Bio:
Leslie Absher is a journalist and personal essay writer. Her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post, Salon, Ms., Greek Reporter, and San Francisco Magazine.
Her father joined the CIA before she was born. When she was a baby, her family moved to Athens, Greece. Just in time for a coup. She spent years trying to learn what her Cold War father’s role was in that event. Her memoir Spy Daughter, Queer Girl is about growing up with a spy and the cost of keeping secrets.
She received a master’s in education from Harvard, taught G.E.D. to high school dropouts, and currently teaches study skills and writing to middle school and high school students. She lives in Oakland with her comic book writer/lawyer wife.
