Renee Yancy

Guten Tag!

More Precious Than Gold, the sequel to The Test of Gold, is here! It's set against the backdrop of WWI and the Pandemic Flu of 1918. I finished the manuscript for More Precious Than Gold in 2017, two years before COVID hit. Never in a million years did I ever think I would live through a pandemic in my own lifetime!

Everyone knows someone who has had COVID or has had it themself. I know several nurses that have had it twice.

Today, though, we have antibiotics and antivirals. We have oxygen and ventilators, breathing treatments, and monoclonal antibodies. We have access to clean water and health care. In 1918, all they had was aspirin powder and morphine. But, unlike COVID, this pandemic flu of 1918 primarily affected people in the 20 to 40 age group---people in the prime of their life. In New York City alone, over 100,000 children were left orphans.

Here's the blurb: A young woman refuses to become a pawn in her grandmother’s revenge scheme and forgoes a life of wealth and royalty to pursue a nursing career as America enters WWI and the Pandemic Flu of 1918 wreaks havoc in New York City.

Made a recent trip back to my hometown of Buffalo, NY. Buffalonians love beer! I posted a few photos of some of the beers I sampled while there.

I'm presently doing research for a story to be set at the time of WWII.

My interest in archaeology and history began when my father brought home a full color book on Tutankhamun sometime in the 60's. I was hooked!

I was a voracious reader from an early age, often bringing home 10 or 12 books a week to read during summer vacation. I particularly love historical fiction that immerses you in a new culture. Time travel in a book. To this day, one of my all time favorite novels is Shogun, by James Clavell.

When I'm not writing, I'm traveling to see the places I write about, antiquing, and collecting pottery, particularly West German pottery. My latest find is a Carstens lunar crater vase.

Visit my website and blog at https://www.reneeyancy.com.

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I have German ancestors from Echzell and Gernsheim am Rhein in Hessen. My paternal grandmother was a Lindenmayer, (originally spelled Lindenmaier.) Family names were Lindenmaier and Maus. I have used the Lindenmayer name for characters in two of my stories.

My sister lived in Stuttgart for many years and I've had the pleasure of visiting Germany twice. On my first visit, I was struck at how tall so many men are. Women, too. Must be those Teutonic ancestors.

I loved everything about Germany. The people. The historic places we visited. The food, the wine, the beer. Did I mention wine?

We went wine tasting in the Moselle River valley. I think it cost 20 Euros, which at the time I thought extravagant. Only when we descended into the vast cavern that held thousands of bottles of wine did I understand the admission price. It would have taken a year to taste all the wine there. I need to go back!