Trading Grenades for Candy: A Kurdish Refugee’s American Journey, by Dr. Helen Sairany

How does it feel to be torn between two vastly different worlds: the one you were born to, and the one you fled to and eventually thrived in? What does it mean to become an American?

Trading Grenades for Candy is a memoir of a Kurdish woman who fled war and turmoil in Iraqi Kurdistan as a young child and transformed herself into a quintessential American success story. Hers is a richly expressed and deeply personal journey from barely surviving in a mud house amidst landmines, to evolving into an independent, world-traveling pharmacist.

By understanding her personal story of hardship and perseverance, readers will come to understand not only her personal triumph, but the wider story of the Kurdish people. This memoir will change the way one looks at what it means not only to be an American, but a fellow human being in our diverse world.