Jozef Mak

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The novel by a prominent representative of Slovak interwar prose presents, in an extraordinary and lyrical manner, the conditions of rural life in Slovakia from the 1870s to the 1930s. Jozef Mak, a "man of a million," is born as an illegitimate child of a poor widow and is oppressed by his older brother Jano, who later takes away his fiancée and a new home. Over time, Mak loses his father, mother, and youthful love Maruša. It is only after the death of his wife Júlia that he realizes he has lost the love he sought throughout his life. He understands that he cannot despair, as he must care for the children who embody that love. The story of an ordinary man who remains unbroken and endures all that fate brings him resonates with today's readers.