Book excerpt: Wanda's Jigsaw is a gripping and moving story celebrating women: their beauty, passion, talent, stamina and wit. A versatile and sensitive teenager, Wanda, is gifted with good looks, but she is oppressed by her secure yet restricted life in the Slovakia of the 80s. An awkward transition into adulthood marked by a premature pregnancy forces her to think laterally. Heartbroken at being forced to give up her baby daughter, Daria, for adoption, she turns her back on the past.Prague is intended to alleviate her hurt as she embarks on a degree in art history and falls in love with Jan, a handsome medical student, but once he discovers the truth, he finds it hard to accept Wanda's past. The whirlpool of historical changes initiated by the Velvet Revolution in 1989 helps the heroine to abandon her roots and disappointments.Thanks to ability and determination, Wanda wins a place at Cambridge where she enjoys the milieu of student life, and meets John, 35 years her senior, an academic with a rich by personally complicated life.At the onset of a youthful middle age, Wanda ascends the social and professional ladder in moving to a prestigious London address. Wiser and financially secure she feels less vulnerable and more liberated than ever before. She is reunited with Michael, her brief love affair from her Cambridge days. However, will the visit of her now 20-something daughter make it easier for Wanda to find the remaining pieces of her jigsaw? Will Michael and Daria be by her side to help her accomplish one more mission to complete the picture?