Love in a time of war, a famous mutiny and running marathons
August features an eclectic mix of novels bound to catch your eye.
Well hello!
Welcome to the August edition of New Voices Down Under.
In Books to Love this month, we’re featuring the one of the first ever novels written by a Uruguayan-Australian author, Natalia Figueroa Barosso, Hailstones Fell Without Rain. This extraordinary multi-generational novel tells the story of three memorable, wise and sharply funny women and the impact of a brutal regime. If you’re feeling like a weekend curled up with a terrific romantic romp, it’s hard to go past In the Long Run by Emma Mugglestone. Fake dating turns into true love at the Croissants and Kilometres run club where our two lovers get hot and sweaty without even taking their clothes off!
In Meet the Author, I chat with Stefanie Koens about her fascinating novel centred around the ill-fated Dutch ship, the Batavia, which was wrecked off the Western Australian coast in 1629. After her father’s death, Tess is determined to finish his academic paper on the people who were deliberately shipwrecked by mutineers on Morning Reef in the Houtman Abrolhos. In a dual timeline, Saskia is supposed to be travelling to the East Indies aboard the Batavia when the ship is wrecked and she finds herself fighting for her life amongst the madness and violence that the survivors must face. Daughters of Batavia is a richly imagined historical take on the famous wreck.
And what would be a newsletter without Freebies? This month, you have the chance to win a copy of Daughters of Batavia and Hailstones Fell Without Rain. You know the deal, read the reviews and interview and answer the questions to be in the running.
Books to Love
Hailstones Fell Without Rain by Natalia Figueroa Barroso
(Published ANZ 5 August 2025)
Graciela is a Uruguayan migrant woman who lives in Sydney’s western suburbs and scrapes a living as a cleaner. Since her divorce, she’s raising her three girls on her own and every day is a struggle to make ends meet. She’s in constant conversation with her aunt Tia Chula back in Montevideo, the woman who raised her when her mother disappeared during the civic-military dictatorship. Graciela has not been back to Uruguay, if for no other reasons, she simply can’t afford it. But an urgent phone call from Chula will bring both closure and a reckoning.
Told from the perspective of Graciela, her eldest daughter Rita and Chula, Hailstones Fell Without Rain traces the impact of Uruguay’s colonial history and its attempts to eradicate the indigenous population, the Charrua. The title is a Rioplatense phrase that is used when someone shows up unexpectedly, uninvited and sometimes unwanted, ‘like eleven tanks marching past your casa, or a landlord who you owe rent to, or even a mother who you haven’t spoken to in three months.’ Three generations of women who have each felt the impact of a civic-miltary regime intent on quashing its people.
Natalia Figueroa Barroso illuminates this violent period of Uruguay’s history with the deeply personal experiences of the women who lived through it and were forever impacted by these events. These women are strong, they love deeply and with such tenderness and humour. Barroso shows their deep sense of family and connection against a background of systemic racism, prejudice and violence. Hailstones Fell Without Rain is a uniquely heartfelt, heartwarming and gently funny novel that is captivating and thought-provoking.
A little bit about the author …
Natalia Figueroa Barroso is a writer of Uruguayan descent with Charrúa, Yoruba and Iberian origins. She was born on Dharug Ngura, and was raised between her birthland and her homeland. She is a member of Sweatshop Literacy Movement and has degrees in communications, screenwriting and media production from UTS. Her essays, poems and short stories have been published widely, including in Sweatshop Women: Volume One, Between Two Worlds, Meanjin, Red Room Poetry, Povo, Overland and Griffith Review. Hailstones Fell without Rain is her debut work of semi-autobiographical fiction.
To WIN a copy of Hailstones Fell Without Rain scroll down to Freebies
Connect with Natalia Figueroa Barroso
Find Natalia on Instagram here @ms_figueroa_barroso
Australia: Buy a copy of the book here
In the Long Run by Emma Mugglestone
(Published ANZ 12 August 2025)
Gen Halliday walks into a bar and sits down at a table between two strapping blokes. She immediately, and most uncharacteristically, asks them to act like she’s the girlfriend of one of them. The why becomes apparent when she is followed by her ex, who is giving off weird stalkerish vibes. One of the guys, Knox, insists on walking her home. As it turns out, he’s visiting his godfather who lives in the ground floor apartment of the same block.
For Knox Watson, the attraction to Gen is instantaneous. But he’s only in town for a short while, just until his godfather gets back on his feet after an accident. Plus with Knox’s track record in the romance department, its not worth the bother.
Fate has different ideas and it comes in the form of the Croissant and Kilometres run club. Gen’s sister has roped her in to train for a marathon. Knox is a bit of a fitness nut. Run club turns out to be the perfect place to meet Mr/ Ms Right and discover a community that loves running almost as much as they love the local patisserie’s coffee and opera cake.
In the Long Run is a pacy (groan, sorry about the pun) fun warmhearted story about forgiving ourselves, stretching our boundaries and finding true love. This is a romance novel, after all! Emma Mugglestone is a keen runner herself and uses the run club to great effect—as a way to introduce a cast of terrific characters as well as a metaphor for the tagline—love is a marathon, not a sprint. There is so much to love about Gen and Knox who feel authentic and familiar. The writing is well plotted and fresh. In the Long Run was the perfect rainy weekend escape. Highly recommended if you prefer to do your running between the pages or need a refreshing break from reality. Something we all need from time to time.
A little bit about the author …
Emma Mugglestone lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her family and dogs in a house that never stays clean and is always noisy but she wouldn’t have it any other way. When she’s not writing contemporary romances filled with charming settings and swoony characters who will steal your heart, she can be found chasing sunrises on early morning runs, reading romances like it’s an Olympic sport and trying to remember her passwords.
Her independently published debut novel The Reality of Us (book 1 in her Wattle Junction series) won the League of Romance Writers Emily Award and Romance Writers of Australia Emerald Award in 2023. It placed second in the Romance Writers of Australia’s 2024 Romantic Book of the Year Award. In the Long Run us her first traditionally published novel.
Connect with Emma Mugglestone
Find Emma on Tik Tok or Instagram here @emma.mugglestone
Find out more about Emma on her website here
Follow her on substack here Emma Mugglestone
Australia: Read a sample or buy a copy of the book here
Stefanie Koens grew up in Perth, reading, writing and dreaming of stories. As a teenager she won prizes in the Mary Durack Young Writers Award, then studied English, History and Education at Notre Dame University. She loves bringing local history to life and capturing family stories.
A little bit about the book …
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.
Amsterdam, 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.
Can you tell us a little about the inspiration behind this story?
Other books! We had a big picture-book by a historian and photographer on our shelf at home, The First and Last Voyage of the Batavia, and I remember being enthralled by the story and characters already at a young age. When I was in Year 7 our teacher read aloud the YA book The Devil’s Own to us, which also stayed with me. Later on, my dad was teaching Islands of Angry Ghosts to high school students and went on several trips to the Abrolhos, so I feel the Batavia was always part of our family lore, especially because of our Dutch heritage. When I revisited the story as an adult, I realised I wanted to retell it with a focus on the women’s stories and weave it into the present day because I love family history so much.
The story is told in dual timelines with multiple points of view, the present day and 1628 when the Batavia sailed. Why did you decide to include multiple narrators in the historical timeline rather than a single one?
At first there was only one, because I added the second narrator, Aris, later on. I realised that his point of view was going to help add so much to the historical timeline that just wouldn’t have been possible through Saskia’s eyes. It’s through Aris’s point of view that we witness shipboard life from all levels, and also what was unfolding on the islands.
Did that make the writing so much harder?
While it became trickier to make sure the three characters’ narratives always tied neatly together, it was actually much easier to tell some parts of the story. Aris’s point of view really helped bring parts of the story to life that would have been impossible to do with just Saskia’s narrative. Also, I loved learning about the world of at 17th century surgeon!
When the story opens, Tess, our present-day storyteller is grieving the death of her father. She’s taken a sabbatical from her teaching job to finish the article her father began. There are so many choices about how to write a novel. What made you decide to do it this way?
This was possibly a bit of a reflection of my own life at the time! But it was also important to me that Tess was not just grieving but also stuck. I think this is something many of us can relate to, no matter the circumstances. I had to give Tess a reason for making the journey to the Abrolhos, and her situation linked her to Saskia, too; they’re both orphans on difficult journeys, and they’re both a little lost.
I imagine you had to do mountains of research to be able to create the world in which the Batavia sailed and its characters. Apart from the factual information, what did you learn about life, for women in particular, and what led them to embark on such a journey. What surprised you?
I am continually surprised by what we don’t know. Why some of the women were taking that journey remains a mystery. I think that is why I created Saskia as a fictional character because it allowed me to give her a strong backstory that we’ll never know about for most of the women on board.
I’m assuming you went to the Abrolhos to be able to write authentically about what it must have been like stranded on those islands and the Batavia shipwreck itself. What stayed with you from that experience?
I actually haven’t been to the Abrolhos! I watched clips online, talked to people who have been there and used my imagination for the rest. I have an opportunity to visit the Abrolhos in October. I’m cannot wait to find out which things will stay with me from that trip, I’m sure it’s going to be a very moving experience to say the least.
And lastly, I can’t let you go without congratulating you on winning the 2023 Banjo Prize for Fiction for Daughters of Batavia. Are you still pinching yourself?
Only every day. A writer-friend told me when I won the Banjo that it would “change everything” for me. It took a while for the reality of that to sink in, but I definitely know what she means now!
Connect with Stefanie Koens
Find Samantha on Instagram here @stefaniekoens
Australia: Read a sample or buy a copy of the book here
To WIN a copy of Daughters of Batavia scroll down to Freebies
Freebies!!
If you enjoyed the interview with Stefanie Koens, then this is your chance to win a copy of Daughters of Batavia. Thanks to HarperCollins Publishers for providing us with **two** copies to giveaway. All you have to do is send a reply email with the answer to this very tricky question.
Name one of the daughters of Batavia.
And thanks to our friends at UQP, there are **two** copies of Hailstones Fell Without Rain to win. All you have to do is send a reply email to this question.
Hailstones Fell Without Rain is partly set in which South American country?
The fine print: Giveaways are currently only open to subscribers and you must reside within Australia to be eligible to win (postage!) The winners will be picked at random and will be emailed on Tuesday 16 September 2025. Good luck!
Don’t forget: You can answer both questions in the same email.
The End
And here we are at the end of another edition. I hope these books have tickled your fancy. Please leave a comment, follow along on socials and come back again next month where there will be more bookish news, reviews, interviews and freebies. See you soon!
Don’t forget, you can always catch up with us on Instagram @newvoicesdownunder
And, if you’d like to read my author newsletter, you can subscribe to A Cuppa With Meredith here The next edition is out Sunday 5 October!