Help me welcome author Anna Jensen as she shares the story behind her latest release.

Towards the end of 2023, I got chatting to author Caryl McAdoo. In the course of our conversation, she invited me to join her Prairie Roses wagon trail romance collection.

My initial reaction? No, thank you! I don’t know anything about American wagon trails, and I don’t write traditional romances.

But then I got to thinking.

I moved to South Africa from the UK twenty-seven years ago. In that time, I’ve learnt some local history. And one thing I know a little about is The Great Trek – an epic journey of Dutch-speaking pioneers in search of freedom from the British run colony of the Cape. Pioneers — Voortrekkers — who traveled in covered wagons.

Why not introduce that story to a worldwide audience? And sprinkle some romance into the mix, while I’m at it.

And so Maria was born!

Weaving historical fact with fiction, I developed the orphaned Maria’s story as she travelled with her guardians — real spiritual leaders of the Voortrekker congregation — in search of a new, promised land. Experiencing further tragedy and loss along the way, Maria finds herself adrift and alone, with an uncertain future ahead.

Even Field Cornet Christiaan Venter’s friendship and promises can’t allay Maria’s fears.

This all sounded great. But where was God in Maria’s story?

Before writing anything, I love to ask God what verse from the Bible is the key to my upcoming story. For Maria, it was from Psalm 107:28-30: "Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven."

And that was it. Maria needed to know God would be her safe place, her harbour. No matter the storms she faced, no matter the loss of those she loved or the seemingly fickle promises of those she hoped to love, God would shelter her.

Do you have a word, a verse from the Bible, for the story of your life? Jesus is the author of all our stories — I pray we would hear His word spoken over the book He writes of our lives.

I’d love you to read the first two chapters of Maria in a special online magazine edition HERE

About Anna 

Hi! I’m Anna, a British expat living in South Africa — where I overlook the Indian Ocean and have the privilege of watching dolphins and whales pass by. I write historical and contemporary fiction, inspirational non-fiction, and poetry.

Discover more on my website at www.annajensen.co.uk. You can sign up to receive my newsletter and receive a free historical novella set in Poldark’s Cornwall, Seeking Light.

You can also follow me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/annaloujensen or find me in all the other places I hang out here.