Child-protection social worker Lexie Doucette tumbles into her profession by chance and has a quick and dramatic introduction to this challenging and essential line of work. Fuelled by outrage at the cyclical pattern of abuse that leaves innocent children in its wake, Lexie draws upon her seemingly bottomless supply of empathy to motivate her to get through the long days. No Easy Answers is a compelling collection of interrelated short stories about the social work profession, told from the perspective of a child-welfare social worker. Though fictional, the tales are based on the author's many years of experience. Raw, powerful, and candid in its depiction of an often-misunderstood profession, the collection offers the reader a startlingly real picture of child-protection investigations and case-work, as well as insight into the conflicted emotional life of a social worker. No Easy Answers will appeal to the general reader, and may be of particular interest to those working and/or teaching in the social work field, and related professions.

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DEANNA LUEDER was employed in the social work field for over 30 years in Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, and British Columbia. She worked mainly as a front-line child protection social worker, and is intimately aware of the unique challenges of this type of work.

"Lueder's writing shines with quiet compassion, even while evoking grim reality. Always direct, never sentimental, these stories give an insider's view of the costs and rewards of working with bleak but never entirely hopeless lives—especially the lives of children who find themselves on the fringes of society."—Frances Itani

"Lueder's greatest skill is in her use of language: she writes in smooth, polished prose that helps the reader glide through this raw world to a place of greater compassion...It is an engrossing book of stories that will engage any reader."-CoastReporter