This book is about the lives of young ''ordinary'' Czech women who came of age in the aftermath of the 1989 Velvet Revolution. It is a collection of interviews with fourteen women of similar age and education, but varying work, marital and childbearing experiences. Three additional chapters outline the design of the study, the social and historical forces that have shaped these women''s lives, and the common themes emerging out of the interviews, linking them to both legacies of communism and the current postcommunist transition.