Stefanie Gercke was the first white child to be born on an island in the Bissagos Archipelago off the coast of Guinea-Bissau in West Africa, and at the age of 20 she emigrated to South Africa. For political reasons she was forced to leave the country in the late 1970s and was not able to return until the new government under Nelson Mandela came to power. She loves regularly taking flight for short periods to the South African province of Natal, but otherwise lives in Hamburg with her large family. Gercke has already published several bestsellers.