Eating Turtle

In these lyrical essays, Alexis Stratton invites us to join them as they trace the intersections of identity, grief, and belonging across four continents. Burned out by years of LGBTQ+ activism, at age 32, Stratton embarks on a multiyear journey through a dozen countries—from the stark Australian desert to the winding streets of Taipei—yearning to find healing in the movement between worlds. They revisit loved ones in South Korea, where they taught English in their twenties, and they summon the courage to come out. They talk of philosophy and loneliness with a New Delhi hotelier and share Taiwanese delicacies with a queer local who greets them like a long-lost friend. In Eating Turtle, Stratton finds, home is not a place but the body you carry, the stories you tell, and the people who welcome you in.