Trayle Kulshan

Revolutions Trayle Kulshan

In 99 99-word scenes, this lyrical travel memoir thrusts you into Trayle Kulshan's round-trip journey from an undeveloped island in the Pacific Northwest to some of the most disastrous places on earth.

Flashes of Trayle's childhood reveal a picturesque schoolhouse, a teepee, and a farm overshadowed by a predatory stepfather. Fast-forward to her travels, where a Siberian skeleton sets her free, only to be trapped by a smooth rapper. She transports you from a tragic marriage in Guinea marred by death and tradition to her own nuptials scheduled between meetings in Kenya to her Syrian sister-in-law's wedding full of smoke machines.

Revolving through nine foreign countries, Trayle draws lessons from each one as she witnesses goats and water and war. Her stories link the past to the present, the common to the bizarre, and the imagined to reality. In piercing (and sometimes uncomfortable) detail, she offers surprising ways of experiencing the world while exposing her own shame and renewal.

Trayle Kulshan spent ten years as a humanitarian aid worker in Guinea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan, Kenya, and Haiti. She also draws from her experiences in Russia, Egypt, and Syria. Trayle currently resides in Dubai, where she ponders sustainability in the desert and gives dubious advice to Generation Z.


If you like the #1 Bestseller and multiple prizewinning "Brown Girl Dreaming" by Jacqueline Woodson, you'll enjoy Revolutions.