I’m pleased to say that (after many hours of writing and formatting) I have just published my new historical novel on Amazon.com.

A DNA test by 23AndMe showed that my genetics is 99.9% Ashkenazi Jewish and 0.1% East African.
Gemini AI calculated that the African contribution, a 0.1% segment, roughly corresponds to a single ancestor who lived 9 to 11 generations ago (around the early to mid- 1700s ), or a slightly larger contribution from an ancestor even further back. This novel is an imagining of the way an East African Beta Israel Jewish trader could have traveled, met and married into an Ashkenazi Jewish family in about 1753, eventually migrating to the new city of Odessa in 1794. I would be proud to be the descendant of such an enterprising person. The story honors the unbroken thread carried through our DNA over centuries.

The protagonist is a Beta Israel Ethiopian Jew, born in 1732. He grows up to become a long-distance merchant. The book is full of travel, 18th century commercial details and derring-do (sword fights, travel over land and sea, etc.). He meets an Ashkenazi woman in Istanbul and they eventually move to Odessa, where my great-grandfather was born.

According to Gemini, there is no other book set in this place and time. It’s unique and entertaining for readers who are tired of the same-old, same-old subjects.

For the sake of identity protection, I won’t post the title. But if you want to read it, message me via Motley Fool and I will e-mail you the link to Amazon.com where you can order it for $3.

Wendy