A Girl Holding Lilacs tells the story of the young daughter of a struggling immigrant family from Croatia, living on a small farm in Connecticut during the bleak, Depression-bound 1930s.

The family is isolated not only from its cherished Old Country roots but also from the large, vibrant Croatian colonies of the Midwest.

As Anna moves from her six years into adolescence, she chronicles, with increasing fright and confusion, the effects of America on the world she knows. She watches her parents change before the harsh new life, and she watches as her beloved brother Joey, the American-born, happy-go-lucky boy who wants so much from life, slowly drown in a world of despair and decay. Originally published in 1980 as Anna Marinkovich, this edition has been rewritten in keeping with the author's original intentions.