My Roots Continents Apart

It is 1934 in La Paz when Elsa, a charming Bolivian of Inca descent, meets Jan, a handsome Czech engineer. Three days later he proposed marriage to her. In 1938, when multitudes abandon the Old Continent, they move to Prague with two children born in Argentina. My Roots Continents Apart is an inspiring account of a family’s struggle to survive and stay together during the turmoil of Second World War in Europe.

The narrative unfolds across venturesome places and situations in Czechoslovakia, Rumania and the Balkans, alongside Jan’s role as member of the Czech Resistance. The Nazis convicted him, yet Albert Goering, brother of Herman, saved his life. During the harsh winter of 1946 the family escapes from the Russian invaders and ultimately returns to South America’s post war autocratic Argentina. Elsa Wagner started to write this story motivated by the ubiquitous “live” television coverage of warfare since the 1990’s, which brought back memories of her childhood. Based on her mother’s book El Frente Desarmado, published in 1952, and after further research of her roots, Elsa realized that she was creating a whole new story involving centuries of history and cultures so diverse and apart as Bolivia and Czechoslovakia.