Author Joan M Kop grew up in the Pacific Northwest. After attending school to become a legal secretary, she was recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency. She later graduated from Gonzaga University and is the author of a memoir, Spies, Lies & Psychosis as well as a historical novel, The Freedom Chaser.
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SPIES, LIES & PSYCHOSIS
This memoir, Spies, Lies & Psychosis, is my unsettling, and compelling true-life story that details my terrifying and disorienting descent into mental illness. At age 25, after leaving my job at the CIA, my life became a series of seemingly disconnected events fraught with dangerous lies, betrayal, manipulation, and deceit, pushing me into this sort of chaotic twilight between sanity and insanity. Unable to trust those around me after discovering their repeated deceptions, I embarked on a harrowing journey to reveal the truth, once and for all, about those family, friends, spies, and lovers who appear to be gaslighting me into thinking nothing I believe is real. But are they right? Is my truth a lie? Or are their lies the truth?
“Author Joan Kopczynski has crafted an incredibly raw and honest reading experience with vivid storytelling and unwavering honesty, allowing readers to empathize with her struggles and triumphs.”
Reader’s Favorite Review by K.C. Finn
“Kopczynski’s memoir is a courageous story of what living with a mental health condition looks like. Through highs and lows she experienced; her perseverance shows recovery is possible.”
Chauntelle Lieske, Executive Director NAMI Spokane
“Readers will enjoy the gritty truth of this unflinching look at a personal journey.”
Spokane/Coeur d’Alene Magazine
“Clarity and veracity define Kopczynski’s memoir of her journey through the throes of mental illness and espionage, with ardent roads of lost loves.”
Susan Jostrom, essayist and author of the Zephyr travel series
The Freedom Chaser
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JOAN M KOP combines historical fiction and family history with in-depth (20-year) research in an immigrant story about freedom, love and survival. In 1867, after the U.S. Civil War, August Kopczynski, a young Polish blacksmith and farmer, is faced with poor choices—to fight in the upcoming Franco-Prussian war, or be hanged if he does not. Using a false passport, he escapes to America and survives a harrowing storm aboard a ship where he falls in love with Marie. They not only survive Midwest hardships but realize their dream of becoming an American success story.
“A well-written portrayal of the author’s great-grandfather, who emigrated from Poland after the U.S. Civil War. Anyone interested in the history of Chicago, Kansas and Idaho with the trials and tribulations of immigrants to America will find this a worthwhile read.”
LYLE WIRTANEN, FORMER DIRECTOR OF THE HISTORICAL MUSEUM AT ST. GERTRUDE, COTTONWOOD, IDAHO (2000 – 2010)
“The Freedom Chaser thoroughly depicts joys, hardships and the livelihood of Polish immigrants—everything from the difficult trip to the Chicago fire to the droughts of Kansas. It is a delightful and enlightening read.”
RYAN TASTOVE, MAYOR OF WESTPHALIA, KANSAS
