What is the title of your latest release?
DAUGHTERS OF THE WRECKAGE
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
DAUGHTERS OF THE WRECKAGE tells the intertwined stories of Tess and Saskia, two women separated across four centuries, bound by the Batavia shipwreck and the secrets its wreckage holds.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
Well, the historical timeline determined that for me! The Abrolhos Islands, off the coast of Western Australia, is certainly a setting like no other. I loved writing about the islands – in both timelines.
Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
I would definitely hang out with Saskia, my 17th century heroine. She is smart, brave and compassionate – and a true survivor.
What are three words that describe your hero?
Observant. Intelligent. Principled.
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
Oh, so many things. It’s going to be hard to narrow it down to one. But I’m going to say I learned that the joy you feel when you write the story you love is the most important and wonderful thing about writing.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I can’t help myself and often start editing as I’m drafting. I know ‘don’t get it right, get it written’ is the golden rule of writing, but sometimes polishing a scene or chapter helps motivate me to keep going.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Chocolate, without a doubt.
Describe your writing space/office!
Mostly at my dining table and sometimes in a café!
Who is an author you admire?
Susannah Kearsley
Is there a book that changed your life?
MARIANA, by Susannah Kearsley. It felt like that novel had been written for me! And it made me fall deeply in love with dual timelines. I’ve re-read this book many times.
Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published). Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
I was working at a school at the time, and it was the day of their annual fair. I abandoned my post at the mini-golf station when my phone rang and I saw the HarperCollins publisher’s name on the screen. (There was another teacher there, so I wasn’t completely irresponsible!) That was the most thrilling phone call of my life and the rest of the day passed in a daze.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
Historical fiction
What’s your favorite movie?
Miss Potter
What is your favorite season?
This sounds wishy-washy, but I love aspects of every season – although I’m not a fan of summer heatwaves here in Perth. If I had to pick, I would say autumn, when the days are warm and still and mornings are finally cooler.
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Going out to dinner with the people I love.
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
It was Claire van Ryn’s first novel (THE SECRETS OF THE HUON WREN) that almost literally dropped into my hands at just the right time in my life, and I find myself recommending it time and again.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
That would probably be Italian.
What do you do when you have free time?
I love to read, go for walks, and take road trips! I also love spending time at the beach, no matter what season.
What can readers expect from you next?
Another dual-timeline historical fiction novel based on a Western Australian story.
A Novel
Two women. One shipwreck. And four centuries of secrets.
Shortly before Christmas in 2018, Tess McCarthy, after years as a hard-working English teacher who never did anything out of the ordinary, flies to Western Australia's remote Abrolhos Islands. She is in search of answers--both to the infamous Batavia shipwreck and her personal family crises.
In 1628, Saskia, an orphaned young Dutchwoman, boards Batavia with relatives, bound for a new and potentially dangerous life in the East Indies--only for her world to first collide with Aris Jansz, the ship's taciturn under surgeon.
Tess, Saskia, and Aris--their lives linked by secrets that span generations--carry the baggage of past losses and the uncertainty of their futures. And, in the most unlikely circumstances, they may find qualities that echo through centuries: faith, acceptance, and love.
A woman searching for answers in her own life finds them--and much more--in the wreckage and haunting stories of the Batavia shipwreck.
Previously published in Australia as Daughters of Batavia.
Romance | Christian [ Thomas Nelson, On Sale: September 15, 2026, Trade Paperback / e-Book / audiobook, ISBN: 9781400356560 / eISBN: 9781400356577 ]
Stefanie Koens grew up in a large family in which books and story-telling were treasured. When her novel Daughters of Batavia was awarded the Banjo Prize in 2023, it was the fulfilment of a dream that began at the age of 12 when one of her short stories won a local writing competition.
Although she never lost her love for writing, Stefanie has worked as a teacher, tutor and office administrator.
Stefanie also loves history and is particularly fascinated by family stories, secrets and experiences that interweave past and present.
When she’s not writing, Stefanie loves spending time in the countryside and coast around her home in Perth, Western Australia, especially when this involves faith, family and friends. More often than not, Stefanie can be found absorbed in other writer’s stories.
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