Throughout my book I share my thoughts and feelings of growing up in a complex multicultural society as well as my response to cultural and ethnic diversity. Even though I am not a philosopher and have not yet experienced much compared to some I have always pictured my life as a long bumpy drive. We choose our destination and more importantly the path we take. We might encounter misfortunes along the way but our mission should be to get back on our feet and work towards the target we have set for ourselves. As the famous American baseball/ football player Bo Jackson once said, Set your goals high, and dont stop till you get there.

The “Bidun” (“without nationality”) are a stateless community based across the Arab Gulf. There are an estimated 100,000 or so Bidun in Kuwait, a heterogeneous group made up of tribes people who failed to register for citizenship between 1959 and 1963, former residents of Iraq, Saudi and other Arab countries who joined the Kuwait security services in '60s and '70s and the children of Kuwaiti women and Bidun men. They are considered illegal residents by the Kuwaiti government and as such denied access to many services of the oil-rich state, often living in slums on the outskirts of Kuwait's cities. There are few existing works on the Bidun community and what little research there is is grounded in an Area Studies/Social Sciences approach. This book is the first to explore the Bidun from a literary/cultural perspective, offering both the first study of the literature of the Bidun in Kuwait, and in the process a corrective to some of the pitfalls of a descriptive, approach to research on the Bidun and the region. The author explores the historical and political context of the Bidun, their position in Kuwaiti and Arabic literary history, comparisons between the Bidun and other stateless writers and analysis of the key themes in Bidun literature and their relationship to the Bidun struggle for recognition and citizenship.

“Part spiritual quest, part scholarly inquiry, part travel memoir, Prodigal Daughter is as richly layered as the civilization [Kostash] explores.” —The Edmonton Journal A deep-seated questioning of her inherited religion resurfaces when Myrna Kostash chances upon the icon of St. Demetrius of Thessalonica. A historical, cultural and spiritual odyssey that begins in Edmonton, ranges around the Balkans, and plunges into a renewed vision of Byzantium in search of the Great Saint of the East delivers the author to an unexpected place—the threshold of her childhood church. An epic work of travel memoir, Prodigal Daughter sings with immediacy and depth, rewarding readers with a profound sense of an adventure they have lived. This book will appeal to readers interested in Ukrainian-Canadian culture, the Eastern Church, and medieval history, as well as to fans of Kostash’s bold creative nonfiction. “Prodigal Daughter is at one and the same time an anthropological, cultural, and religious quest on two levels: the personal, autobiographical and the wider sociological and cultural. It is both deeply spiritual and intellectually satisfying.” —Tom Harpur, former author, journalist, TV host “Written in lyrical, vibrant prose, Prodigal Daughter is part travelogue and part memoir—a detailed account of findings from her travels to Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia and Macedonia . . . Winner of the 2011 City of Edmonton Prize, Prodigal Daughter is a thought-provoking book.” —Prairie Fire Review of Books “It may just be her best book to date . . . a shockingly honest and open articulation of a spiritual quest, one that is rich with possibilities.” —Lindy Ledohowski, Canadian Literature