Today the waves are big and the ship jumps into them, the lion on the bowsprit dips his great paw right in! I practise spitting and swearing when Imke’s asleep. I can spit quite far. I would make a great sailor. We have been eleven days at sea.”

Imke erupts with a rich fat giggle that runs to a generous laugh that Pelgrom heartily joins in with. Finally, Imke’s laughter subsides into the dabbing of tears and a look of gratitude. This story is set in two timelines, 1628 and 1989, and shares the lives of two 9 year olds, Mayken’s story set in 1628, and Gil’s in 1989. I don’t think I can do justice to this amazing story, so I’m including a link to my friend Linda’s review, who has done just that. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... Kidd has based her latest novel on the historical sinking of the BATAVIA off the west coast of Australia in 1629.

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How far can human cruelty reach? There are no limits to rage depths or even no matter what time in history it happened, not really!

The Night Ship is an enthralling tale of human brutality, fate and friendship – and of two children, hundreds of years apart, whose destinies are inextricably bound together. The characters were incredibly written, especially Mayken, a child aboard the Batavia. The tale is told alternating between 1629 and 1989, but this is the part that baffles me. Maybe I didn’t quite understand the book properly, but I don’t understand how the fate of the children involved in the two different timelines were connected. Gil (the child in 1989) had an interest in the Batavia when he saw the divers, but he was living a completely different storyline, and that wasn’t his focus. But again, maybe that’s me just not quite gripping this storyline entirely. You poked her.” The nursemaid turns to the child. “What are you? A stoat? A rat? A puppy? Put your teeth away.”

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The tragedy of the story is well-known, but the author has made it personal and human, adding descriptive passages that add to the experiences of the children. This one is the old sailor teaching Mayken. Pelgrom looks closely at Mayken with his mouth pursed and his eyes narrowed. The exact same way Imke would regard a salmon held up by a Haarlem fishmonger. Mayken tries to look bright-eyed and fresh. THE AUTHOR: Jess Kidd was brought up in London as part of a large family from county Mayo and has been praised for her unique fictional voice. To drink wine in the Great Cabin with the upper-merchant.” “He has a notion for Lady Lucretia.” Imke frowns. “Zwaantie is

Kidd introduces magical realism with all the many links between these two children who are both facing their own monsters, named according to their own country's folklore, Mayken's Bullebak and Gil's Bunyip. Loss is central to both Mayken and Gil’s experience; for starters, each child has lost their mother. Discuss some of their major (and minor) losses throughout the novel and how these may have shaped them as characters. Magical realism and folklore at its finest. It doesn’t always work for me but was done exceptionally well. Historical Fiction with touches of Magical Realism is the spark that led to requesting this ARC and my first experience reading one of Jess Kidd's books. If I were to briefly describe this story, I would say it is 'very full'. Full of history and imagination, survival and tragedy, life and death, darkness and light, and everything in-between.

The Night Ship

Pelgrom laughs. “When Imke dies, you can stay that way. We’ll shave your head and get you a beer ration.” Dutch shines his torch to illuminate their burrows. He talks about the stars and points out constellations. Gil pays no attention. He would rather the stars stayed wild and not become something else he has to know about.” Beautifully written, with child characters who stole my heart, centered around a historic event that I knew nothing about - things that made for an appealing read to me . It’s a dual story line with time frames, three hundred and sixty years apart, yet there are touching connections between the two children portrayed here and stunning connections between the the humanity and inhumanity in both times. Mayken hasn’t forgotten the expression of terror Creesje was wearing when she first saw her—the fine lady being hoisted up the side of the ship like a bag of flour! Now terror has been replaced by a customary expression of dismay. As Imke puts it, she’s probably not had to wash in her own piss before. Like an archaeologist herself, Kidd uses her narrative to reveal the layers of history and story associated with a single location and the way events can reverberate through the years. While a supernatural connection is implied, the two stories are really reinforced by the deep resonance between the characters and their experiences. So that a real swim by one of the Batavia survivors to try and bring supplies from the sinking ship becomes an event at the local fair 350 years later. Whether or not the ghost of Mayken haunts the island, the Raggedy Tree itself is a solid reminder to Gil of the bloody history of the place and a way in which he can commune with that history.

There were words Mum said quietly and carefully because they were dangerous. Devil. Hangman. Tutankhamun. Cancer." Mayken rolls her eyes. “ Lucretia Jansdochter is giving out to Zwaantie Hendricx on account of the maidservant giving encouragement to sailors old and young.” Mayken frowns at the predikant. Of this she is doubtful. One of the carved men looks like a pork butcher from Haarlem market, only he holds a sword, not a pig’s leg. The other three just look peevish. Each child has parental figures who step in at different times in their journeys (for examples, Imke, Holdfast, Dutch, and Silvia). How would you describe these stand-in parents? In what ways were these adults important for Mayken and Gil? Theirs is the farthest hut from the jetty. It stands at the south end of the island behind a bank of scrub as if sloping away from company. As if it would rather launch itself into the sea than converse with its neighbors.’

Table of Contents

In 1629, nine-year-old Mayken, now motherless, is traveling via the ship Batavia's maiden voyage, to live with the wealthy father she has never met. She is joined on her journey by her nursemaid, Imke, to whom she is deeply attached. The greatest disgrace of humankind is the failure of the strong to protect the week. We don’t need monsters, . . . , we are the monsters.” There are two narrative arcs both involving young protagonists, a young girl and boy. They have many similarities. Both are nine years of age; both have lost their mother, both believe there is a monster haunting them, and both may meet their end in the same geographical location though centuries apart. The scientists are there to dig trenches under our camp to find the Batavia that location was hard to locate from ancient records.