Christine Kuehn (Author of Family of Spies) | Ep. 217
Sarah's Bookshelves Live
Sarah Dickinson
4.7 • 785 Ratings
🗓️ 18 February 2026
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In Episode 217, Sarah chats with author Christine Kuehn about her memoir, Family of Spies, and the thirty-year journey that led her to uncover a long-buried family secret. Christine shares how the story first entered her life, the decades-long research process behind reconstructing her father's past, and what it meant to weave her own discovery into the historical narrative surrounding her family's role in the Pearl Harbor attack. She also offers a glimpse of what she's working on next and shares some of her favorite book recommendations.
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CLICK HERE for the full episode Show Notes on the blog.
Highlights
- How the shape of the book's narrative sets it apart from other WWII stories
- How this story entered Christine's life — and the moment everything changed
- Her decision to publicly share this dark chapter of her family's history
- The decades-long research process behind uncovering her father's past
- Why integrating her own discovery story was essential to telling her family's role in the Pearl Harbor attack
- A glimpse at what she's working on next
Christine's Book Recommendations [31:29]
Two OLD Books She Loves
- The Women by Kristin Hannah (2024) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [31:43]
- Agent Sonya by Ben Macintyre (2020) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [33:45]
- Other Books Mentioned
- The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre (2018) [34:45]
- The Siege by Ben Macintyre (2024) [34:47]
Two NEW Books She Loves
- Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [35:57]
- The Lost Kitchen, Vol 2: Big Heart Little Stove by Erin French (2025) | Amazon| Bookshop.org [37:35]
- Other Books Mentioned
- Finding Freedom by Erin French (2021) [38:46]
One Book She DIDN'T Love
- Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (2022) | Amazon | Bookshop.org[39:48]
One NEW RELEASE She's Excited About
- Whistler by Ann Patchett (June 2, 2026) | Amazon
| Bookshop.org [41:33]
- Other Books Mentioned
Books From the Discussion
- At Dawn We Slept by Gordon W. Prange (1981) [5:47]
Other Links
- Instagram | Sarah's Bookshelves, Family of Spies Review
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Sarah's Bookshelves Live. |
| 0:11.9 | I'm your host, Sarah Dickinson. |
| 0:13.9 | Join me every other week as we get real and sometimes a bit snarky about books and reading. |
| 0:19.2 | Let's get rolling. |
| 0:22.8 | Family of Spies was my favorite nonfiction book of 2025, and I shared my review on Instagram already, which I will link to in the show |
| 0:28.3 | notes. This is a story of history, but it reads like a total page turner. My jaw was on the floor |
| 0:33.4 | so many times because I kept imagining what it would be like to be just living my normal life |
| 0:38.8 | to get this call out of the blue suggesting that my family had something to do with spying |
| 0:43.8 | and the Nazis. So I am thrilled to welcome Christine Kuhn to the podcast. Following a career in |
| 0:50.1 | journalism, public relations, and nonprofit, Christine now lives in Maryland with her husband close to their three grown children. |
| 0:56.8 | Welcome, Christine. |
| 0:58.1 | Oh, thank you for having me, Sarah. |
| 0:59.5 | I'm excited to be here. |
| 1:01.0 | I am so glad I'm getting to talk to you. |
| 1:03.3 | Your book just absolutely crushed me in ways that I just kept trying to put myself in your |
| 1:09.2 | shoes and just could not imagine everything |
| 1:11.3 | you have been going through and what it would be like to find out all of this information about |
| 1:16.8 | my family. And I've got to tell you, I could not find a hard copy of Family of Spies anywhere right |
| 1:24.4 | before Christmas. My Barnes & Noble told me they couldn't even order it from the publisher. |
| 1:28.9 | Has Family of Spies been blowing away your publisher's expectations? |
| 1:33.8 | Yes, it really has. It's definitely blown away my expectations. I knew we had something special, |
| 1:39.6 | but I really didn't expect the response from the audience and the media and people like yourself who read a ton and see a lot of different books come across their desk. |
... |
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