Anneke Jans in the New World

A Novel

Sandra Freels

• Publisher: She Writes Press
• Year: 2026
• Topic: Literature
• eBook ISBN:
  9798896360339
• Subtopic: Historical Fiction
• Index: Literature

Timed perfectly to publish just as New York celebrates its 400th birthday, a riveting story of a spirited young mother who faces the unknowns of seventeenth-century New Amsterdam after fleeing the Old World in search of a better life.

It’s 1630, and Anneke Jans has just arrived in the fledgling colony of New Netherland with her husband, Roelof, and their two young daughters to create a new life for herself and her family. One of very few women in the colony, Anneke quickly realizes that she will need to make her own rules if she is to survive.

When Roelof dies, Anneke marries Everardus Bogardus, the flamboyant minister of the Dutch Reformed Church. With this marriage, Anneke joins the elites of the colony—but when the colony’s new director provokes war with the region’s American Indians and her new husband emerges as the head of the anti-war opposition, she also finds herself in the midst of political turmoil. As difficulties mount, she must rely more than ever on her quick wits to protect herself and her growing family.

Based on real events, Anneke Jans in the New World tells the story of an ordinary woman who lived an extraordinary life.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Author’s Note
• A Note On Names
• One. Arrival (1630)
• Two. De Laetsburg Farm (1630–1632)
• Three. A Wider Circle (1632–1634)
• Four. Another Mission (1637–1641)
• Five. Kieft’S War (1640–1643)
• Six. A Community Divided (1643–1645)
• Seven. Prinses Amelia (1645–1648)
• Eight. Return To Rensselaerswyck (1648)
• Nine. Acts Of God (1648–1652)
• Ten. Beverwyck (1652–1658)
• Eleven. War On The Esopus (1658–1661)
• Twelve. Remember Me (1661–1663)
• Epilogue: the Will of Anneke Jans (1663)
• Sources
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author