FBI Girl: How I Learned to Crack My Father's Code . . . with Love by Maura Conlo

Description: FBI Girl by Maura Conlon-McIvor In a house teeming with life, young Maura, voted the Most Quiet Girl in Catholic school, notices everything but says little. Eager to penetrate the secret world of her father, FBI agent Joe Conlon, she is drawn to the bureau drawer where he places his badge at night. The time is the late 1960s, and Vietnam and the Cold War are fomenting unrest outside Mauras suburban Los Angeles home. Inside, the Conlons and their five children are still bound by tradition: baseball games, Sunday dinners of roast beef and mashed potatoes, and The FBI on TV. Under the watchful gaze of J. Edgar Hoovers picture, Mauras mother, a former New York bathing beauty, remains a housemaker even as she slips out for assertiveness training. And theres the one unshakable rule of all: Joe Conlon never talks about his job. In fact, he rarely speaks at all. Believing that he communicates in code, Maura is determined to crack it. She uses clues gleaned from Nancy Drew mysteries, eavesdrops on adult conversations, and spins larger-than-life fantasies in her head, with her younger brother, Joey, who has Down syndrome, at her side. But her flights of fancy turn sober with a murder in the family. Suddenly her fathers silence speaks volumes, and she learns a lesson from him abut fierce love during a time of devastating loss. Bathed in luminous nostalgia, resonating with hilarious and painful memories, FBI GIRL is the coming-of-age story of a highly imaginative girl and a passionate homage to family bonds, the trials that test them, and the triumphs that make them stronger. FORMAT Hardcover LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Author Biography Maura Conlon-McIvor graduated from the University of Iowa and has worked as a journalist, editor, and producer on both coasts. Maura holds a MA in Literature from Wake Forest University where she studied the work of contemporary Irish poets. She holds a PhD in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute and writes about the significance of our lifes first 14 years. She and her husband live in the Pacific Northwest with their two feisty dogs and enjoy music, travel, conversation and the beautiful outdoors. For more information, visit fbigirl.com. Review FBI Girl is a gorgeous, sumptuous book. Conlon-McIvor takes a subject (herself and her family) that might have sunk in other hands, beats egg white under her words and the whole thing rises like a dream. Its a love story for her people and for a time and place. Read it." --Alexandra Fuller, author, Leaving Before the Rains Come andDont Lets Go to the Dogs Tonight FBI Girl, written with "a touch of the poet," surprises and delights on every page. Itvividly recreates recent American history as experienced through the eyes of a preciousand gifted girl growing up in a family challenged by a fathers difficult work and personality, a childs disability, a murder, puberty, religion and government service. This book is memoir, fitting into the sub-genre of children surviving traumatic childhoods. But it can stand along the finest coming of age novels; the narrator and her awakening remind me of the wonderful characters of Scout in To Kill A Mockingbird and Franny in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I really like this kid and her beautiful book. --Edward Tick, PhD, Author: War and the Soul, Warriors Return Director, Soldiers Heart, Inc. "Beguiling...Few memoirs in recent memory offer such wit, poignancy, and pleasure." --Karen Karbo, author, Julia Child Rules: Lessons on Savoring Life and The Stuff of Life "Gets the details just right to sweetly evoke an earlier era. Maura Conlon-McIvor lovingly shows how a child with a disability can reveal a familys unspoken capacity for love." --Joseph P. Shapiro, author, No Pity: People with Disabilities Forging a New Civil Rights Movement "An unusual achievement. Joe, Joey, and young Maura Conlon evolve, page by page, heartbeat by heartbeat, in this most notable work." --Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. "Touching and funny, inspiring and tragic, enlightening and sad. I closed the book with tears in my eyes and admiration in my heart for the girl Maura Conlon was and the writer she became." --Beverly Donofrio, author, Astonished: A Story of Healing and Finding Grace and Riding in Cars with Boys "Enthralling...a book to treasure...speaks to the universal themes of love and dignity and the healing power that comes from the heart. The best memoirs teach us about ourselves. Maura Conlon-McIvor does that with poignancy, humor and real heartbreak." --Tom Hallman, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of The Strangers Gift: True Stories of Faith in Unexpected Places "Oh, I love this book...a funny, moving, beautifully rendered account of a girl coming to know her father." --Mike Rose, Author, Lives on the Boundary and The Mind at Work "A refreshing antidote to memoirs about childhood trauma. . . . A coming of age story thats at once universal and deeply individual." --People Magazine "A delightful and compelling read." --Elle The author conveys her time (the 1960s) and setting (Los Angeles) with precision and detail; her feel for story, structure and understatement rightfully earns the poignancy of many moments. --Publishers Weekly Readers will enjoy this journey through Conlon-McIvors Irish American, Catholic-school childhood. An endearing, truthful, and joyful account of coming of age in the 1960s and 1970s; highly recommended. --Library Journal Long Description In a house teeming with life, young Maura, voted the Most Quiet Girl in Catholic school, notices everything but says little. Eager to penetrate the secret world of her father, FBI agent Joe Conlon, she is drawn to the bureau drawer where he places his badge at night. The time is the late 1960s, and Vietnam and the Cold War are fomenting unrest outside Mauras suburban Los Angeles home. Inside, the Conlons and their five children are still bound by tradition: baseball games, Sunday dinners of roast beef and mashed potatoes, and The FBI on TV. Under the watchful gaze of J. Edgar Hoovers picture, Mauras mother, a former New York bathing beauty, remains a housemaker even as she slips out for assertiveness training. And theres the one unshakable rule of all: Joe Conlon never talks about his job. In fact, he rarely speaks at all. Believing that he communicates in code, Maura is determined to crack it. She uses clues gleaned from Nancy Drew mysteries, eavesdrops on adult conversations, and spins larger-than-life fantasies in her head, with her younger brother, Joey, who has Down syndrome, at her side. But her flights of fancy turn sober with a murder in the family. Suddenly her fathers silence speaks volumes, and she learns a lesson from him abut fierce love during a time of devastating loss. Bathed in luminous nostalgia, resonating with hilarious and painful memories, FBI GIRL is the coming-of-age story of a highly imaginative girl and a passionate homage to family bonds, the trials that test them, and the triumphs that make them stronger. Review Quote FBI Girl is a gorgeous, sumptuous book. Conlon-McIvor takes a subject (herself and her family) that might have sunk in other hands, beats egg white under her words and the whole thing rises like a dream. Its a love story for her people and for a time and place. Read it." --Alexandra Fuller, author, Leaving Before the Rains Come and Dont Lets Go to the Dogs Tonight FBI Girl, written with "a touch of the poet," surprises and delights on every page. It vividly recreates recent American history as experienced through the eyes of a precious and gifted girl growing up in a family challenged by a fathers difficult work and personality, a childs disability, a murder, puberty, religion and government service. This book is memoir, fitting into the sub-genre of children surviving traumatic childhoods. But it can stand along the finest coming of age novels; the narrator and her awakening remind me of the wonderful characters of Scout in To Kill A Mockingbird and Franny in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I really like this kid and her beautiful book. --Edward Tick, PhD, Author: War and the Soul, Warriors Return Director, Soldiers Heart, Inc. "Beguiling...Few memoirs in recent memory offer such wit, poignancy, and pleasure." --Karen Karbo, author, Julia Child Rules: Lessons on Savoring Life and The Stuff of Life "Gets the details just right to sweetly evoke an earlier era. Maura Conlon-McIvor lovingly shows how a child with a disability can reveal a familys unspoken capacity for love." --Joseph P. Shapiro, author, No Pity: People with Disabilities Forging a New Civil Rights Movement "An unusual achievement. Joe, Joey, and young Maura Conlon evolve, page by page, heartbeat by heartbeat, in this most notable work." --Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. "Touching and funny, inspiring and tragic, enlightening and sad. I closed the book with tears in my eyes and admiration in my heart for the girl Maura Conlon was and the writer she became." --Beverly Donofrio, author, Astonished: A Story of Healing and Finding Grace and Riding in Cars with Boys "Enthralling...a book to treasure...speaks to the universal themes of love and dignity and the healing power that comes from the heart. The best memoirs teach us about ourselves. Maura Conlon-McIvor does that with poignancy, humor and real heartbreak." --Tom Hallman, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of The Strangers Gift: True Stories of Faith in Unexpected Places "Oh, I love this book...a funny, moving, beautifully rendered account of a girl coming to know her father." --Mike Rose, Author, Lives on the Boundary and The Mind at Work "A refreshing antidote to memoirs about childhood trauma. . . . A coming of age story thats at once universal and deeply individual." --People Magazine "A delightful and compelling read." --Elle The author conveys her time (the 1960s) and setting (Los Angeles) with precision and detail; her feel for story, structure and understatement rightfully earns the poignancy of many moments. --Publishers Weekly Readers will enjoy this journey through Conlon-McIvors Irish American, Catholic-school childhood. An endearing, truthful, and joyful account of coming of age in the 1960s and 1970s; highly recommended. Library Journal Details ISBN1498244335 ISBN-10 1498244335 ISBN-13 9781498244336 Format Hardcover Year 2017 Publication Date 2017-07-14 DEWEY B Short Title FBI Girl Language English UK Release Date 2017-07-14 Country of Publication United States AU Release Date 2017-07-14 NZ Release Date 2017-07-14 US Release Date 2017-07-14 Pages 318 Author Maura Conlon-McIvor Audience General Publisher Wipf & Stock Publishers Imprint Wipf & Stock Publishers Place of Publication Eugene Subtitle How I Learned to Crack My Fathers Code . . . with Love We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:130978202;

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