My grandmother was French toast on Sunday mornings. Crossword puzzles in ink, tough love wrapped in wool cardigans and hands that smelled faintly of lavender and dish soap. She didn't just hold the family together—she made it something worth holding.
But behind all that—there was something else.
She was also a spy.
We don’t know the full story. She never told us. She took her oath, and her secrets, to the grave. But I’ve spent years wondering: What if I could fill in the blanks? What if the quiet woman who raised our family also shaped history from the shadows?
The Family Cover is a sweeping work of historical fiction built on the bones of a real life—a life lived in code names and close calls, cover stories and kitchen tables. Based on whispers, photographs, and fragments of truth, this is the imagined record of a CIA agent who raised a family while defending her country—and the grandson left to piece together what she left behind.
Part spy novel, part love letter, and part reckoning, this is her story. Or the version she never gave us. Until now.