Podcast Summary

Podcast: New Books Network
Episode: Sandra Freels, Anneke Jans in the New World (She Writes Press, 2026)
Host: C.P. Leslie
Guest: Sandra Friels
Date: February 20, 2026

Overview

In this episode, C.P. Leslie interviews Sandra Friels about her debut historical novel, Anneke Jans in the New World, which explores the life of a Dutch immigrant woman in early 17th-century New Amsterdam (present-day New York). Timed with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the 400th anniversary of New York’s founding, the conversation delves into genealogy, colonial society, women's roles, cultural contact, and the historical research behind the book.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

Author's Background and Origin of the Novel

• Sandra Friels details her academic career in Russian language and literature, retirement, and unexpected turn to writing historical fiction about Dutch New Netherland.
  • "Retirement is full of surprises. I became interested in the Dutch colony of New Netherland...and quite to my own surprise, I ended up writing a novel about it." (02:04)
• The inspiration stemmed from her genealogical connection to Anneke Jans and, more significantly, from Dutch colony records available online during the pandemic.
  • "I couldn't hang out with living people, so I read those records as though they were gossip columns." (02:54)
  • She became invested in reconstructing not just Anneke’s life, but the feel of the community itself.

Historical Sources and Invented Narrative

• The factual details about Anneke are sparse: names, marriage dates, property records.
• Most of the novel’s content is fictionalized, sparked by gaps in the historical record.
  • "We know the basic outline of her life...Everything else in the novel is invented. It's fiction." (04:12)

Creating Anneke’s Story and Character

• Friels combined historical fact with imaginative empathy, particularly around motherhood, loss, hierarchy, and the emigrant experience.
  • "I was curious about what it felt like to live in a rigidly hierarchical society...How would that affect your perceptions and behavior?" (05:00)
  • The challenge of crossing the Atlantic and the uncertainty of starting anew is central to Anneke’s character.

Depiction of 17th Century Colonial Life

A. Dutch West India Company (WIC) and Settlement

• The WIC was profit-focused, with monopoly over Dutch Atlantic interests, exerting immense power over colonists.
  • "The director of the colony...had almost unlimited authority over the lives of the colonists." (06:59)

B. Patroon System and Anneke's Journey

• Anneke’s husband, Roloff, signs a contract to work for a patroon, motivated by opportunities for land and stability.
  • "They would give him everything he needed to establish a farmstead. And if the farmstead succeeded, they would share all of the profits." (11:08)
• Their background: already emigrants from Norway, further moving to Amsterdam, then to New Amsterdam.

C. The Melting Pot of New Amsterdam

• Described as a rough, male-dominated outpost with a dynamic mix of American Indians, Europeans of varied origins, religious beliefs, and enslaved Africans.
  • "It's this wild mixture of people...almost no old people or children and very few women. It is very much a society of brash young men at that time." (09:36)

D. Isolation of Rural Life (Rensselaerswijk)

• Anneke’s initial farming life is marked by hardship, isolation, and contact with Mohican neighbors, contrary to the common focus on conflict in colonial narratives.
  • "Annika suffers from the isolation...there's quite a bit of intercultural influence and, I would say, friendship that develops." (13:41)

The Role of Women: Agency, Survival, and Community

A. Women as Managers

• While husbands went away for long periods, women ran business affairs as well as households.
  • "The women managed the business during that time while the man was away." (12:53)

B. Anneke as a Survivor

• Anneke embodies resilience, pragmatism, protectiveness, and humor, shaped by constant vigilance in a new world.
  • "She has to be on guard at all times. She's hardworking...but at the same time she's also compassionate and very protective, especially of her family. And I think she has a great sense of humor." (08:57)

C. Motherhood and Loss

• Anneke bears ten children, loses three, and follows religious norms about accepting fate but experiences grief and love akin to any era.
  • "As a woman of her time and of her religious upbringing, she cannot question the will of God...But at the same time, she cherishes the children she has and grieves for the ones she loses just as much as you or I would do." (19:15)

Matriarchy and Social Mobility: Anneke's Mother and Sister

• Trine Jonas, Anneke’s mother, is portrayed as a practical, shrewd, and influential midwife and social strategist.
  • "Trina is a midwife and not sentimental about it. This is her job...She is one of the first of the medical figures who appears in the records." (16:14)
  • "She is the one who pushes for the immigration...When Roloff dies, Anneke knows that she must remarry, but it is Tryin who pushes her to marry someone of consequence." (17:27)
• Sister Marichen is imagined as more outgoing and risk-taking, yet equally determined.

Anneke’s Second Marriage and Society

• After Roloff’s death, Anneke marries Everardus Bogardus, a controversial minister and leading figure, dramatically elevating her social standing but introducing new challenges.
  • "Her second husband is a lightning rod for controversy...He is the only minister of the only church on Manhattan. He is second in importance in the colony only to the director of the colony." (20:24)
  • Despite the social leap, Anneke remains cautious of political repercussions from her husband's feuds.

Indigenous-European Relations and Fictionalization

• Friels invents two Mohican siblings, Walanya and Kitpul, important for cross-cultural storylines and to represent plausible interactions erased from the record.
  • "They're important to me...Walania and Annika, despite their differences, develop a friendship of sorts. And they share their cultures as much as they can with each other." (22:07)

Themes and Takeaways

• Complexity of colonial society: Friels seeks to challenge simplified origin stories, highlighting diverse, hybrid beginnings.
  • "I would like them to take away an increased awareness of the sheer complexity of early colonial society." (23:38)
• Anneke as an archetypal immigrant, shaping society through both struggle and accommodation.

Sneak Peek: Next Book

• Friels is working on a novel about Anneke’s daughter, Sarah, who becomes a significant interpreter and wife of the colony’s first barber surgeon.
  • "She married three times, three very different kinds of men...Sarah was happy to serve as interpreter for the lead negotiator of the Hackensack Indians...She was a full-fledged interpreter and a very important person in the colony." (24:53–25:44)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "I read those records as though they were gossip columns." — Sandra Friels (02:56)
• "The historical Anneke might have been much nicer or much nastier than the one I invented, but I like to think that I've at least come up with a version...that really might have been." — Sandra Friels (06:03)
• "When she first arrives, it's a very raw, very masculine emerging community...there’s this wild mixture of peoples and languages and religious beliefs all coming together." — Sandra Friels (09:36)
• "If you don't have healthy babies, you can't have a growing population at all." — Sandra Friels, on her character Trina Jonas the midwife (16:56)
• "Most of all, I would like them to take away an increased awareness of the sheer complexity of early colonial society." — Sandra Friels (23:38)

Timestamps for Significant Segments

• 00:01–01:24 — Introduction and scene-setting: arrival of Anneke in New Amsterdam
• 01:32–02:23 — Sandra Friels’s academic background, pivot to Dutch colonial history
• 02:27–03:44 — Genealogy, pandemic research, and inspiration for the novel
• 04:06–04:37 — Factual vs. invented elements in Anneke’s story
• 05:00–06:09 — Challenges of imagining Anneke’s interior life and immigrant plight
• 06:27–07:14 — Overview of Dutch West India Company and its authority
• 07:22–08:53 — Incentives, emigration story, and Roloff’s background
• 08:57–09:29 — Anneke’s personality; survival and protection
• 09:36–10:49 — New Amsterdam’s social, cultural, and linguistic mix
• 13:26–14:12 — Life and challenges in Rensselaerswijk, Mohican interaction
• 15:00–15:54 — Anneke’s mother and sister’s arrival, importance of the midwife
• 16:14–17:18 — Character of Trine Jonas: midwifery and matriarchal role
• 20:24–22:00 — Second husband: Everardus Bogardus, politics and social standing
• 22:07–23:23 — Mohican siblings, importance of Indigenous-European friendship
• 23:38–24:15 — Overarching themes: complexity, the immigrant experience
• 24:19–25:44 — Future work: novel about Anneke’s daughter Sarah

Conclusion

Through an engaging and well-researched conversation, Sandra Friels and C.P. Leslie illuminate not only the life of Anneke Jans but the broader, tangled roots of New Amsterdam. The episode offers a vibrant, empathetic look at how real and imagined details intertwine to capture a lost world, while raising questions about social complexity, gender, power, and the immigrant journey at the heart of American history.