2023 Judy Grahn Award Finalist for Best Lesbian Nonfiction

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.

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.

"Spy Daughter, Queer Girl is succinctly written, gorgeously rendered, and emotionally illuminating. One could describe it as part memoir, part spy thriller, but it also has a wider scope: It brings to life a micro-history of being young and gay in America in the '80s."

--Sophia Glock, Ms. magazine

"The fierceness of Absher's courageous quest to learn the gut-wrenching truths of her father's obfuscations parallels her search for her own truths in struggling to know herself as a gay woman....This book is a treasure."

--Kathryn Watterson, author of Women in Prison, Not by the Sword, and I Hear My People Singing

"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

Formato	Tapa suave
Número de Páginas	266
Lenguaje	Inglés
Editorial	Latah Books
Fecha de Publicación	2022-10-11
Dimensiones	8.0" x 5.25" x 0.6" pulgadas
Letra Grande	No
Con Ilustraciones	No
Temas	LGBTQ+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQ+

Absher, Leslie

Leslie Absher is a journalist and essayist. Her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Independent, Salon, Huffington Post, Ms., Greek Reporter, and the San Francisco Chronicle. 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 writing and study skills to middle school and high school students. She lives in Oakland with her comic book writer/lawyer wife.