Spies' Wives - Softcover

Chiao, Karen L.; O'Brien, Mariellen B.

3.47

19 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0887393217 ISBN 13: 9780887393211

Publisher: Creative Arts Book Co, 2001

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Spies’ Wives is a unique collection of true stories, anecdotes, and observations about life overseas recorded by spouses, former spouses, and offspring of CIA operatives. Included are insights into living the lie of "deep cover" and coping with strange economies, weird customs and linguistic roadblocks. The authors have culled the experiences of thirty reliable sources to tell what it was like to step through the looking glass of the real world into the wonderful world of espionage, where evacuations, secret meetings, and passionate love affairs are de rigueur.

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About the Author:

KAREN L. CHIAO grew up in the Midwest and developed wanderlust after reading about Boris, a White Russian who lived in Nepal. She never met Boris, but did once have a drink at his bar, The Yak and the Yeti.

MARIELLEN B. O’BRIEN was raised in a small town in Connecticut, and has traveled and worked with the CIA in Washington, Austria, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Denmark. She resides on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

From Publishers Weekly:

"You know you are a CIA dependent when... [y]our husband tells you he's going on a trip and can't tell you where and you don't even wonder why," says one such dependent. Paging through old address books, Chiao and O'Brien, who have lived in many far corners of the world as the wives of spies, tracked down other women like themselves around the globe, leading to "numerous luncheons, afternoon teas, telephone calls, e-mails, conversations and then, this book," a collection of more than 90 true accounts many hilarious, others frightening by 30 spouses and daughters of CIA agents. (Only 16 contributors are credited, since many wished to remain anonymous.) Experiences here include culture shock, cover jobs, hardships, espionage, embassy attacks, evacuations, typhoons, secret love affairs and drunken parties. Particularly poignant are tales of teens suddenly surprised when told the truth by their CIA dads. Most incidents fill two or three pages, and some get only a sketchy paragraph. The contributions have been regrettably fragmented into thematic groupings, so any sense of personalities and cohesion is absent. The unfortunate final effect is that of a distractingly incomplete, unsolvable puzzle, as the reader riddles over which abbreviated anecdotes were once joined together. The book concludes with a two-page glossary explaining such terms as "compartmentation" (being told only what one needs to know) and "dead drop" ("a concealed site established for transfer or passage of clandestine material, information or equipment"). (Mar. 15) Forecast: Although a useful training manual for spies' wives-to-be, this hodgepodge will have little appeal beyond the most espionage-addicted readers.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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