The effort to explain the human experience through literature has fallen to the wayside since the days of André Malraux, Albert Camus and Erich Maria Remarque. In my writing, I strive to deepen the understanding of the inner morality that drives some people to heroic acts of self-sacrifice or acts of unprecedented kindness toward strangers in need. At the same time, I want to explore the depths of human depravity and the resiliance of the human soul after terrible traumas. An eternal optimist, I hope that my writing offers hope to those who believe that love exists even when its contours are vague and fluid. In my first novel Soldier, Lily, Peace and Pearls, I attempt to take the reader along on the protagonists' long journey starting in 1975 and ending in 2011. From Indochina to Malaysia and Thailand and then to Canada, Africa and the Middle East, this is a journey on very troubled waters, but one which is well worth it.