A Woman I Know

Female Spies, Double Identities, and a New Story of the Kennedy Assassination

By: Mary Haverstick

Narrated by: Mary Haverstick

The true story of a filmmaker whose investigation of her film’s subject opened a new window onto the world of Cold War espionage, CIA secrets, and the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Independent filmmaker Mary Haverstick thought she’d stumbled onto the project of a lifetime—a biopic of aviation pioneer Jerrie Cobb, the key figure in a group of extraordinary women who in 1960 passed the same tests as the legendary male astronauts of the Mercury 7 but never went to space. Just as casting was set to begin, Haverstick received a mysterious warning from a government agent; soon she began to suspect that there was more to Jerrie’s story than what met the eye. As she dug deeper, she discovered that Jerrie’s life shadowed that of a mysterious CIA agent named June Cobb, whose espionage career traced an arc of intrigue from the jungles of South America to Fidel Castro’s Cuba, to the communist literary circles in Mexico City—and ultimately into the dark heart of the Kennedy assassination in Dallas.

Haverstick’s attempt to learn the truth directly from Jerrie would plunge her into a cat-and-mouse game that stretched across a decade, deep into a thicket of coded CIA files. As she uncovered a remarkable set of mostly unknown women whose high-stakes intelligence work left its only traces in redacted files, she also found shocking new clues about what really happened at Dealey Plaza in 1963. Offering fresh insight into the Kennedy assassination and a vivid picture of women in midcentury intelligence, A Woman I Know brings to life the astonishing duplicities of the Cold War intelligence game, a world where code names and hidden identities were the lifeblood of spies bent on seeking advantage by any means necessary.


* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF of images from Mary Haverstick’s impeccable research from this compelling true story.

Critic reviews

“Fascinating . . . [Haverstick] distills a prodigious amount of research into a fast-moving story. . . . As a fresh history of U.S. espionage, A Woman I Know is an absorbing read.”—The New York Times

“An anxious, furious, forensic contribution to the study of the assassination of US president John F Kennedy . . . Haverstick is in earnest here, and has a memory like a filing system and a filing system like a vice. The least this book could possibly be is a compelling real-life thriller, full of passion, free of writerly fuss, woven from the most intractable archival cat’s cradle imaginable. That’s what you’ve got, even before you think to take it seriously—and I’ll bet the farm that you will.”—The Telegraph

“Intriguing and endlessly enigmatic . . . A cat-and-mouse search for a woman’s identity opens onto a shadowy corner of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. . . . Jerrie Cobb’s fascinating life reveals her to be ‘a spy, an explorer, a gambler, an astronaut, an illusionist, a narcissist, and a con’—and, to say the least, a puzzle.”—Kirkus Reviews

Great Research

Fascinating story. The author may extrapolate a bit much in the Babuska conclusion. But, other facts are solid.

Worth a listen!

The author presents a compelling argument that one CIA agent utilized multiple identities and was associated with many historical events of the 60s including Cuba’s relations with the U.S. and the JFK assassination. Well worth a listen!

Excellent read or listen!

Wonderful listen, voice was perfect with tone that shared seriousness and emotion of author. Admire the enormous dedication to pursue the heart of the story. Assumptions back up with logical documented links.

I don't normally do conspiracy theories but....

I initially got this book based on the tie-in to the characters in the 'For All Mankind' series. Much like the author herself. Turns out we were all in for a much different story. I only stayed with this because the author herself wasn't coming from a vast conspiracy theory angle but just pulling on the threads of what she found. She's just doing some research on the person, finds some interesting stories, digs, find connection, and so on. In the end I think this is a very compelling case (again, I am not a big conspiracy person so don't know how this compares to others) that is methodically researched and though out. But in the classic story - there is enough evidence to draw a very good picture of possible events but is also missing the definitive keystone piece of evidence that wraps it all up in a neat little package. Because it didn't happen or because of good craft? This is going to send me down some rabbit holes.

Note on self-narration - she doesn't do a terrible job but there are parts where she turns up the dramatic notes a bit. She may have felt those feelings in the moment and they might have been real, but the text doesn't really support it. This might be her trying to be conservative and rational, not to overplay the facts. The words are controlled but she still wants to convey the drama. Otherwise the pacing is a little slow but pretty good.

WOW!

I just finished the audiobook and what a truly amazing story.

The depth, magnitude and dedication to the century long research of this story is astounding.

I was just as intrigued as the writer when this story took on a new direction and couldn’t wait to follow it with her.

I love that she included photos of her research findings and can’t wait to see where this story goes next!