Synopses & Reviews
From an evocative new voice comes the touching childhood memoir of an Irish Catholic girl struggling to connect with her enigmatic FBI agent father.
Young Maura Conlon's dad is a secret agent. And Maura knows what that means: chasing cars, jumping over buildings, handcuffing bad guys, just like on The FBI, her favorite TV show. But no matter how many times Maura asks her father about his work, he never says anything. So Maura decides to become an FBI girl-in-training. Balancing the rigors of Catholic school with reading the latest Nancy Drew mysteries, keeping track of license plates on the neighborhood cars, and jotting down observations in her special FBI girl notebook is a lot of work, but Maura is determined to infiltrate her dad's silent world. However, it will take the birth of a Down's syndrome baby and a family tragedy before she has the courage to confront him using real words instead of cryptic code. A heartwarming tale of a father/daughter relationship, FBI Girl is about family bonds, the trials that test them, and the triumphs that make them stronger.
Review
"With a style that cleverly matures as the writer recounts her childhood, this book is a delightful and compelling read....Conlon-McIvor successfully reanimates a shelf-worn topic and crafts a book exploring the dynamics of an emotionally and physically absent father." Elle
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"[T]ouchingly honest...always true to a childs point of view....[An] occasionally funny, affecting account of family ties and personal growth." Booklist
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"The fey filigree of similes is unrelenting and, like the words of a child, unconvincing. Could be effectively pitched as a heartwarmer for young adults, but this jejune effort is seriously misplaced among adult nonfiction." Kirkus Reviews
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"Readers will enjoy this journey through Conlon-McIvor's Irish American, Catholic-school childhood. An endearing, truthful, and joyful account of coming of age in the 1960s and 1970s; highly recommended." Library Journal
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"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. It's a love story for her people and for a time and place. Read it." Alexandra Fuller, author of the New York Times bestseller Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight
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"Beguiling....Few memoirs in recent memory offer such wit, poignancy, and pleasure." Karen Karbo, author of Generation Ex: Tales from the Second Wives Club
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"FBI Girl is 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 of Riding in Cars with Boys
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"The beauty of the enthralling FBI Girl is that it speaks to the universal themes of love and dignity, and the healing power that comes from the heart. While memoirs, by nature, are about one person, the best teach us something about ourselves. Maura Conlon-McIvor does that with a great deal of poignancy, a dose of humor, and moments of real heartbreak. This is a book to treasure." Tom Hallman, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Sam: The Boy Behind the Mask
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"Oh, I love this book. It offers us a bygone Los Angeles, Catholic School, the FBI all woven into a funny, moving, beautifully rendered account of a girl coming to know her father." Mike Rose, author of Lives on the Boundary and The Mind at Work
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"An unusual achievement. Joe, Joey, and young Maura Conlon evolve, page by page, heartbeat by heartbeat in this most notable work." Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.
Review
"A pitch-perfect rendering of the mysteries of parents played to the audience of their young children. Conlon-McIvor achieves something special." Frances Kuffel, author of Passing for Thin
Synopsis
From an evocative new voice comes the touching childhood memoir of an Irish Catholic girl struggling to connect with her enigmatic FBI agent father.
Synopsis
Young Maura Conlon's dad is a secret agent. And she knows what that means: chasing cars, jumping over buildings, handcuffing bad guys, just like on "The FBI," her favorite TV show. No matter how many times she asks her father about his work, he never says anything. So Maura decides to become an FBI girl-in-training. A heartwarming tale of a father/daughter relationship, this is about family bonds, the trials that test them, and the triumphs that make them stronger.
About the Author
Maura Conlon-McIvor grew up practicing her Irish brogue while bodysurfing the waters of Orange County, California. From there she zipped off to the University of Iowa and became a freelance journalist interviewing Pulitzer Prize-winning authors, National Geographic photographers, mountain climbers, pro sports players, national broadcasters, massage therapists, life coaches, and anybody else with a unique story. She enjoyed a brief stint at The New Yorker and just the other day had lunch with her old boss at the Algonquin Hotel (great tuna sandwiches). Before writing FBI Girl: How I Learned to Crack My Father's Code, Maura worked in the visual effects film industry. Maura Conlon-McIvor sculls on the Willamette River, and divides her time between Portland, Oregon, and New York City. She is married to her husband, Andrew, whom she met on a train platform in Innsbruck, Austria, eons ago.