Six Car Lengths Behind an Elephant: Undercover & Overwhelmed as a CIA Wife and Mother

"A charming and unusual portrait of the secret life" - John le Carré, author of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

"It’s charming, often troubling, and sometimes hilarious and is altogether a fascinating read"- Berkeleyside

“If you’re married to a spy, the always fraught arena of a relationship turns into a positive minefield. What does that all-night absence mean? What can you begin to say to the kids? In Six Car Lengths Behind an Elephant, Lillian McCloy gives us the story of a life spent around secret intelligence that is funny and charming and in every wonderful sense, deeply spooky.” - Pico Iyer, author of The Art of Stillness and Video Night in Kathmandu

“We’ve all read the romanticized accounts of a CIA officer’s life overseas. Rarely do we ever get to read about the spy’s family. Six Car Lengths Behind an Elephant by Lillian McCloy is an engrossing, decades-long memoir of foreign life under deep cover for the CIA. McCloy reveals the intrigue, danger, and humor of clandestine life in her thoroughly entertaining account of a CIA family’s nomadic lifestyle. Few living in the U.S. will ever encounter the unique trials and tribulations of the McCloy family, but what a fascinating read it is!” - Alan B. Trabue, CIA (Ret.), author of A Life of Lies and Spies