American Spy—Lauren Wilkinson

What an original first book posing as a spy novel—and novel it is.  It purports to be the journal of a young black female FBI agent working in Intelligence.  Finding herself the wrong gender and color to advance, she accepts a shadowy assignment to meddle in the politics of the newly-named Burkina Faso.  A stunning debut of writing that includes the Cold War, sexism, racism, broken families, patriotic duty, and the lingering consequences of our actions.