Lillian McCloy

Lillian McCloy wrote her CIA memoir in the 1990s, but it wasn't published until 2016 when she was 90-years-old. The book garnered endorsements from John le Carré and other notable authors.

Six Car Lengths Behind an Elephant focuses on her life as a CIA wife and mother, but her life prior to marrying her husband Frank was already pretty amazing. Among other things, she was a jazz singer in a big band; she was briefly engaged to Monty Hall when they lived in Canada; and she was Melvin Belli's executive secretary in San Francisco.

For more about her life, check out the San Francisco Chronicle's in-depth obituary feature: "Lillian McCloy, whose memoir of life married to a CIA officer thrilled spy novelists, dies at 97". (Lillian passed away in 2023.)

Lillian's daughter Johanna McCloy, is a freelance writer and editor. She edited this book and gives talks and presentations about her mother's life, the book, and her own experiences as a spy's daughter. You can also read about some those experiences in her Substack publication, "In This Life".