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Three Slovak Women is a nonfiction account of three generations of Slovak women in the steeltown of Duquesne, Pennsylvania, and the love and sense of family binding them together.
The book opens with Verona Straka, who immigrated to the United States from
the tiny village of Milpos in Slovakia in 1922, and chronicles the journey from her homeland, her arranged marriage to Janos Figlyar, a hardworking but stern Rusyn coal miner/steelworker (whose fondness for alcohol led him to the often violent outbursts of which she was the target), through her struggles to raise her seven children during the Depression. The story then follows Verona's first-born, her daughter Anna, as she grows up Slovak-American, fearful of her father and devoted to her mother, and shows how this upbringing influenced the choices she made for her own life. Finally, the story ends with Verona's granddaughter, Lisa, and shows how the opportunities presented to her differed from those afforded her mother and grandmother, and also reflects on family values and traditions of the Slovak culture-praising those that have been passed down from the previous two generations, while lamenting what has been lost.
Surnames included: Figlar (Figler, Figlyar); Straka; Alzo (Alsio); Fencak.