"Paradise of the Downcasts" This collection of short stories and essays is all about the delightful yet poignant discoveries and observations made while examining my life experiences in my new home, Canada. There is so much we all know about the damages we do to the world around us and those living in it. Dismayed, we feel inspired to do something about it. That is still not enough. We must then take the next step and do the work to reveal the injustices of the world and to find solutions. I took that step with my novel "Amity" where I portrayed the devastation inflicted on people by war and conflict. Now, with knowledge gained from over thirty years of life in Canada, a country clearly better than many in providing a safe and prosperous place to live, I herein write about what I have seen here that shows we still have much work to do before we can justify saying "we have the best standard of living in the world." - Nasreen Pejvack Endorsement:Patricia A. Donahue, author of the - "Mighty Orion Trilogy" Ms. Pejvack hones in to the deeper strata of life in Canada to uncover prevailing patterns of economic and political dysfunction. In this eclectic collection, she succeeds in delivering an exposé of human injustice in Canada perpetrated by systems designed to undermine and subjugate. Her characters tell poignant tales of imposed and unsubstantiated struggle with resultant suffering, directly connected to cumbersome and outdated agencies, and to favoritism for the wealthy and powerful. Couched in complex human relationships, she shines the spotlight on government policies designed to create and maintain inequality. Particularly for indigenous peoples, they go so far as to promote a state of poverty for those who want only to live a decent life. She is bold and declarative and is to be applauded for giving definition to truths about the larger global picture that most are reluctant to acknowledge. Policy makers would do well to read these narratives.