The Cartoonist Whose Parents Were Secretly Spies

In her first graphic novel, Narratively Contributor Sophia Glock documents her teenage unraveling after she figured out what her mom and dad really did for a living.

Illustration by Sophia Glock

Early in her career as a cartoonist, Sophia Glock said yes to everything. She cobbled together “a million different gigs,” often without compensation. Now, over a decade later, she has published her first book, Passport — a memoir about her childhood as the daughter of two CIA officers. Glock uncovered the family secret one day when she happened upon a letter that wasn’t meant for her. Her parents weren’t who they claimed to be, and this finding led her to question everything. Being a teenager is challenging enough and on top of that, Glock had the added weight of keeping such a big secret! Her gripping novel is a page-turner, and in it she talks about how she evaded questions about her parents’ occupation and what it was like to have to move countries and start over, again and again. Glock sat down with Narratively and chatted about where the idea for the book came from and how finally being able to say no feels like success.