Nina Willner is the author of two critically acclaimed nonfiction books: THE BOYS IN THE LIGHT, which was named Amazon Editors’ #3 Best Book of the Year – Top Nonfiction, and Best History Book of 2025, and FORTY AUTUMNS, named a Top 15 Nonfiction Book of 2016 by The Christian Science Monitor.

Prior to her writing career, Nina was a US Army intelligence officer who led sensitive missions behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. After a career in intelligence, Nina worked in Moscow, Minsk, Prague, Ottawa and Istanbul promoting human rights, women’s and children’s causes, and the rule of law for the US government, nonprofits and a variety of charities. After years living abroad, she now writes narrative nonfiction full time from her home in Washington, DC.

Books by Nina Willner

Forty Autumns: A Family's Story of Courage and Survival on Both Sides of the Berlin Wall

by Nina Willner - Memoir, Nonfiction

In this illuminating and deeply moving memoir, a former American military intelligence officer goes beyond traditional Cold War espionage tales to tell the true story of her family --- of five women separated by the Iron Curtain for more than 40 years, and their miraculous reunion after the fall of the Berlin Wall.