In a vertigo of silence

the long version

The family is a matriarchy with Marishka at its head. A strong and eminently likable Polish woman, she came to the United States via Ellis Island with her husband, Antoni. They settle in Pennsylvania where he found work in a coal mine. Tragically, like so many other miners in the early 1920s, he perished in the mine. This is when Marishka was only days away from giving birth to her third daughter ... Marishka's tenacity is evident in how she went on to become a talented seamstress, laundress and sometimes house cleaner to make ends meet.