American Spy

A BARACK OBAMA SUMMER READING PICKSHORTLISTED FOR THE 2019 CENTRE FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZELONGLISTED FOR THE HWA DEBUT CROWN'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 (GQ)'A compelling read' MAIL ON SUNDAY'Brilliant Cold War spy thriller. A gripping tale and an unusual take on the spy genre told from an intriguing perspective' HWA DEBUT CROWN JUDGES'Pacy and very exciting' DAILY TELEGRAPHWhat 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.'A stunning book' PAUL BEATTY'Intelligent and propulsive' GUARDIAN 'A spy thriller like you've never read before' TIME

A whole lot more than just a spy thriller, wrapping together the ties of family, of love and of country, American Spy updates the espionage thriller with blazing originality, A fresh perspective. Marie Mitchell, a black female spy, goes on a mission to track down Thomas Sankara, the African Che Guevara, and has to choose between love, her family and her country, This debut gives a distinctive spin on the spy novel . . . A compelling read, Wilkinson paints a convincing and lively portrait of this fascinating real-life figure. A non-privileged protagonist in this poshest of genres is rare enough to make that the USP, but by any standards this is a fine thriller, thoughtful and dryly witty, richly textured and, when required, pacy and very exciting

Lauren Wilkinson grew up in New York City and lives in the Lower East Side. She earned her MFA in Fiction and Literary Translation from Columbia University and has taught writing at Columbia and the Fashion Institute of Technology. She has received writing fellowships from the Center for Fiction and the MacDowell Colony, and her fiction has appeared in Granta.