Margaret Smolik

Like a Haystack Margaret Smolik

Like A Haystack brings to life events and forces that drove the author's family to be uprooted from their ancestral community in Croatia during World War II. It describes the family's background, their experiences in Austria after the war, and their emigration to the United States and to Iowa.

In Like A Haystack the author contrasts life in Europe and in America.

She highlights the endurance needed to survive war, poverty, suffering, and adapting to new cultures. She portrays people who do whatever it takes to achieve the American dream. The symbolism of a haystack is apt in that all of us are formed by many events that must be uncovered and accepted. Lynn Haakenson, an English teacher, commented, "This account is a fascinating memoir of the author's life in Croatia in WWII and her family's adjustment to life in America."