Dee Andrews

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When Duties Collide, How Do You Choose?

frontline medical works with patient in 1918 influenza pandemic

In 1918, Dr. Lorne Miller ponders a medical mystery. A country doctor on the plains of Kansas, he’s confronted with  otherwise healthy adults dying suddenly from a flu-like illness. The infection spreads quickly, forcing him to make the agonizing choice to tend to a more dire patient over his wife, who dies before he can return. Seeking salvation and resolved to stop the spread, he pursues a vaccine and finds himself embroiled in a public health crisis, power struggles, and politics.

Meanwhile, impulsively and in defiance, his daughter Helen joins the army to serve as a nurse on the front lines of the Great War. Aboard the ship she sails for France, she finds influenza among the troops and knows the infection will spread quickly, overwhelming the trenches and hospitals and killing more soldiers than the war. Caught between guilt and grief, finding her purpose in life, and a budding romance with one of her patients, she struggles to balance caring for others with care for herself.

Committed to saving lives, Lorne and Helen—father and daughter, doctor and nurse—struggle on the front lines of medicine and war, battling sickness and death, posturing and politics, while reconciling duty to others and duty to self.

 

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“Not till we are lost do we begin to find ourselves.”

—— Henry David Thoreau

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historical novels 1918 influenza

When the Past Becomes the Present

#amreading· 1918 Influenza Pandemic

People who know I’ve written a historical novel set during the 1918 pandemic always comment that my timing is brilliant. I (very coincidently) finished revisions to my manuscript and began querying agents in 2020, when our own pandemic struck and our world shut down. Whether my timing is brilliant or not is yet to be determined. What I do know…
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relief work during 1918 Spanish influenza

Vigilance Urged as Grip Wave Recedes

1918 Influenza Pandemic· Research

This headline from the New York Times could be talking about new cases of COVID-19 falling off, but it refers to the 1918 Spanish influenza. Then, too, New York was trying to find the fine line between optimism and pragmatism. “Health Commissioner Copeland was optimistic, but in discussing the figures he said that eternal vigilance was alone the price of…
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Bottle Cove, Newfoundland

#amreading· Travel

Our first day on Newfoundland, surrounded by both Appalachian Mountains and rocks of ocean crust, cod au gratin, and the beauty of The Dog Stars by Peter Heller.

A Novel Soundtrack about a Ramblin’ Man

Hobos, Train Hoppers, Travelers

Music holds a profound place in storytelling, weaving emotions and atmosphere into every narrative thread, whether it’s the tension of a suspenseful beat or the serenity of a gentle melody. When I started writing this novel, On the Rails, my brother, who inspired the protagonist Cowboy, told me to listen to “Big Wheels in the Moonlight” by Dan Seals. He…
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Newfoundland Road Trip

#amreading· Travel

With time, the memories will fade—the excitement planning our road trip to Newfoundland, the first day, the first 691 miles across Colorado and Nebraska into Iowa, a ribbon of asphalt streaking across the heartland. We eased into the trip, staring out the windows, settling into our next six weeks.

On the Rails with Narrator Sam Elliott

Hobos, Train Hoppers, Travelers

Imagine listening to On the Rails with narrator Sam Elliott, his gravelly voice, with its rugged cadence and timeless charm, telling the story of my protagonist Cowboy, who, in his twenties, full of agitation and wanderlust, begins riding freight trains, seeking freedom and adventure but mostly finding depression and addiction. In my daydreams (when I need a break from editing weasel…
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novel title inspiration from merle haggard

How To Title a Novel

Hobos, Train Hoppers, Travelers· On Writing· Research

I started writing this novel some three years ago and from the start the working title A Good Man has guided me. Now that I’m near a finished manuscript, I thought I should put some time into how to title a novel. The story is a blend of a road novel and addiction lit, and tells the story of Cowboy