Partner in Three Worlds

Partner in Three Worlds tells the remarkable, true story of Jan Rieger, a man whose life was continuously fractured and rebuilt by the sweeping forces of world history. Born into profound destitution in Prague, Rieger fought his way out of poverty to achieve an unlikely rise as an officer in the Austro-Hungarian Imperial Army during World War I. After the Armistice brought newfound freedom to Czechoslovakia, he reinvented himself entirely, becoming a highly successful industrialist and head of a thriving crystal and porcelain empire.

However, the outbreak of World War II shattered his world once again. Forced to flee, he built a third, quiet life as a chicken farmer in Pennsylvania before ultimately volunteering to serve in the Canadian Army. Winning the 1944 Governor General's Literary Award for Non-Fiction, Dorothy Duncan’s masterful biography is a captivating portrait of a chameleon—a deeply determined man who mirrored the chaotic, changing patterns of the 20th century in his own extraordinary life.