The Night Ship

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At sea, Imke mysteriously falls gravely ill and Mayken is convinced there is a mythical sea-monster on board who is responsible. She ventures high and low through the ship in her search to trap the villainous, Bullebak.

I listened to the audio of Jess Kidd’s “The Night Ship”. Fleur de Wit and Adam Fitzgerald narrate this story told in two different time periods: 1629 and 1989. 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?An ambitious, melancholy work of historical fiction that offers two wondrous young protagonists for the price of one. With "THE NIGHT SHIP" Kidd has weaved together two of my favourite genres and the result is another stellar book. 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. Both stories are linked through dutch and Australian folklore, although there are a lot of additional commonalities between the two children as they are bound by loss, grief, and trauma. Mayken would like to watch to see if Stonecutter crushes any of the soldiers’ skulls but now the passengers must follow the boy sailor.

Mayken crawls forward and puts her palm next to his, flat against the planks. She sees how much smaller and cleaner her hand is. Too clean for a cabin boy. But John Pinten doesn’t seem to notice.

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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. Both characters are riveting. Mayken is impish and fascinated with the world of the boat and the characters who inhabit it. Gil is awkward, lonely, a little weird, and terrified of the world. His only friend is a 900-year-old tortoise named Enkidu.

You poked her.’ The nursemaid turns to the child. ‘What are you? A stoat? A rat? A puppy? Put your teeth away.’ Q: You created such a varied cast of characters. Was there one character who was your favorite to write about? If so, why?

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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. Gulls are nervously testing the yardarm, clumsy-footed compared to the sailors who are all over the rigging: climbing, dangling, rolling, lashing, hollering and cursing. The Night Ship" by Jess Kidd is a book with a gorgeous cover and a beautifully written story inside! Gil is also dealing with the supernatural – in his case the legend of the bunyip, an ‘attempt to give fear a shape’, and the islanders’ belief in the ghosts of the Batavia, epitomised by a Raggedy Tree, where toys are left for the ghost of a little girl they call May. The frustration of the wait builds to the excitement of the leaving, now that her final treasure has been loaded. Twelve coin chests of considerable weight and ridiculous worth have been rowed to the ship under guard, hoisted under guard, lugged by six men apiece into the Great Cabin in the stern, and set down with a guard to watch over them at all hours.

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. Pelgrom is to thank for the distraction of the listening hole. Him and his borrowed carpenter’s tool. Pelgrom the shipworm. 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. 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.

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I love how the author combines a hauntingly tragic historic event with a parallel story, in a modern timeline, that draws so many parallel themes between the two. This story slowly builds for most of the book until it arrives at the heart of each timeline. Tension ratchets up for both Mayken and Gil. While we know the fate of the Batavia, we do not know the fate of all those she carried.