Afterthought: A Family Story

Heather Akou

doi:10.5967/rc90-k143

Afterthought

A Family Story

Historical fiction book about the difficult life of a working-class woman in Wisconsin in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.

Author

Affiliation

Heather Akou

Fashion Design
Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design
Indiana University Bloomington

Published

2025

Modified

2026

Doi

10.5967/rc90-k143

Abstract

Afterthought: A Family Story focuses on the life of my grandmother, Lila Slaback, who grew up in a dysfunctional, working-class family in La Crosse, Wisconsin, in the 1930s. In her short adult life, she gave birth to seven children with at least four different men and died in 1958 at age thirty-six. She was a real person, but her family was not proud of her story. This book is my best attempt to recover it. This work of historical fiction can be read like a memoir. With extensive notes and resources, it can also be read as inspiration for researching and writing historical fiction, especially in the United States. As an educational text, it would be appropriate for courses on fashion history, American history, gender roles, family, poverty, healthcare, and generational trauma.

Keywords

fashion, body image, historical fiction, American history, Wisconsin, working class, generational trauma, poverty, healthcare, parenting

Front Matter

Cover image: two teenage girls wearing roller skates and knee-length dresses that symbolizes a relatively happy time in the life of the main character, Lila. The image is blurred on the right side to suggest the fading of memory and the passage of time.

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