Amity provides a window to the wreckage caused by war and conflict that leave behind destruction, displacement, pain and struggle resulting in life-long and irreparable psychological disorders. It is a story about the lives of various people who are dealing with the devastation of war and conflict, here specifically within the contexts of Yugoslavia’s dissolution and Iran’s revolution. Payvand, an Iranian refugee and activist, still plagued with nightmares, meets a Ragusa, a Yugoslavian refugee whose pockets are loaded with stones ready to walk into the water and end a life that feels intolerable since the loss of those most dear to her. The two women form an incredibly strong bond as Payvand listens to Ragusa’s story and Ragusa decides to stay alive long enough to hear Payvand’s story, told to her over several days. It is the warmth of friendship that is key to what happiness can be found by these characters in a world that is seemingly incapable of learning from its past mistakes.

Nasreen Pejvack was born in Tehran, Iran where, pre-revolution, she worked as a writer and poet for an activist underground publication. She moved to Greece due to the brutal aftermath of the 1979 revolution in Iran, and soon immigrated to Canada. She studied and worked as a computer programmer in Ottawa for eight years, then moved to California and worked as a systems analyst in San Francisco. After four years she returned to Canada and now resides in Vancouver, B.C. where she transferred from the computer field to Psychology and worked with the North Vancouver school district and other organizations. Today she develops, designs, and facilitates workshops, and is working on a book of poems and short stories. Amity is her debut novel.

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