This is a dual story line work of historical fiction and thriller-ness. Yes, a ship named Batavia sailed for Batavia in 1628 but never made it. Aboard was Lady Maykin and her nursemaid Imke whom I came to feel affection for, as did many of the sailors, passengers and even a soldier or two. The 1989 storyline with Gil, his Grandpa and Dutch and their antagonists, run somewhat parallel to Maykin's story. The biggest thing that I believe links the two was that weird shadow of evil that lurked and slunk about, waiting to take and overtake any unawares. It was more than just superstition. I did not quite enjoy this dark part of the story but feel it must be somewhat allegorical to life and to the lives of those two time frames. I make such a conclusion due to the events of horror that happened and left me rather queasy and not from seasickness!

~Eunice C., Reviewer/Blogger~

April 2022

Disclaimer: This is my honest opinion based on the review copy sent by NetGalley and the publisher.

In 1628 The Batavia sailed from The Netherlands on its maiden voyage to the Dutch East Indies. Almost there after seven months, it foundered on coral reefs close to Western Australia, pre-empting a planned mutiny.
On board Jess Kidd places Mayken a daring and imaginative little nine-year-old girl travelling with her nursemaid. As she explores, she finds a different life below deck and has no trouble befriending the sailors, soldiers and passengers forced to endure dreadful conditions.
The story alternates with that of Gil, a mirror image of Mayken, also nine years old, who goes to the same island as the shipwreck three hundred years later, when, after the death of his mother, he is sent to live with a grandfather he neither really knows nor likes.
Jess Kidd thrills and delights with her spellbinding stories in The Night Ship. Mayken and Gil have no control over the events shaping their lives but they both absorb and try to figure out a way through the consequences of the terrible actions of the adults in their lives, ones who are driven by greed and power.
The Night Ship is elegantly crafted and brimming with folklore. This atmospheric read is grim, it is based on a true event after all, but there is plenty of scope here for looking up to the stars.

4+

As ever, I hadn't realised this was based on a true story until I'd finished reading it, I'd picked it up based on the author alone.
It starts out quite mildly, but really ups the tension as you go on.
A dual timeline story, that worked perfectly, switching stories at exactly the right moment so you're desperate to know more.
It's quite a cruel and brutal tale at times, but with the odd bit of humour, or kindness to make it real.
Two young, strong characters leading the stories, that endeared themselves so much to me, that at times I felt I could cry for them.
Outstanding.

It took me a really long time to get into this. It’s dual pov which didn’t help. The issue with this is that you tend to prefer one over the other - and that’s what happened with this.

We follow two children - Mayken (a young girl on a the Batavia, a doomed ship in the 1600s) and Gil (a young boy who has moved to the small fishing community in 1989)

I could have just had a book full of Mayken I connected to that character so much more. Her voice was strong. I understand why Gils story was there but it just wasn’t as gripping to me so it made the first half the book very slow for me.

It was heartbreaking to get to the end of the book and realise this was inspired by true events.

This is the first Jess Kid book I’ve read, and would definitely read more.

Its a story of two central character with entities apart and switching timelines at the backdrop of Batavia. Mythical elements and the interweaving lives brilliantly plotted, this was my first book by the authors. Enjoyed it thoroughly.

I really enjoyed The Night Ship by Jess Kidd. Not having read any of her books before, I didn’t know what to expect. But I thought it was a beautifully crafted account of two people, Mayken and Gil who both live on the same island , but 300 years apart. The story was really cleverly inter woven, each chapter switching between the two time lines. The main characters are linked by mythological creatures, that fuel the fear and uncertainty. It’s a sad and at times barbaric story, but very sympathetically written. Thoroughly recommend.

This book was amazing. I couldn’t put it down at all.

At first having the two differing storylines was a little distracting but as I read on it became more interesting and I enjoyed when the two convened for a moment.

It had enough historical fact in it that I immediately had to find out more of the Batavia and what happened to her.

SYNOPSIS
A parallel tale of two lives, The Night Ship switches between the story of Maryken, a Dutch child in the early 1600s, and Gil, an Australian boy in the late 1900s.
Under the charge of her nursemaid, Imke, Maryken embarks on the long and arduous journey to Batavia, where she will be delivered to her father, a rich merchant she has never met. Centuries later, Gil is sent to stay on Beacon Island with his unwelcoming grandfather.

As both stories unfold, so do uncanny similarities between the past and present, and Gil learns of a shipwreck that still haunts the islands inhabitants today.
~
MY THOUGHTS
A reimagining of true events, this is a captivating tale that engrossed me from start to finish. Told from the perspective of children, Kidd cleverly builds up an engrossing world of monsters and old wives tales, meanwhile the real dangers lie in the real world. I did shed a tear at the end of this book, which is rare for me, so I definitely felt emotionally connected to the story.

A few small issues I had: I felt like some of Kidd’s descriptions of characters were quite repetitive (she describes multiple characters as having ‘wolfish’ mannerisms and it just seemed a bit unoriginal/I couldn’t see where she was going with that) and, I would have liked a more thorough explanation of some of the connections between characters across the centuries. That being said, I absolutely recommend this book - particularly for fans of historical fiction and magical realism!

I totally enjoyed this book. I loved that I was able to fully imagine what the author was describing throughout. I always love when I am able to fully understand a setting of a book and the author's writing style allowed me to do that.. I loved that the book was told form the perspectives of children and how they deal with trauma and how they try to understand it and cope with it. Overall it was interesting read especially since it was based on a historical event which allowed me some idea of what occurred and also pushed me to actually research it in greater detail.

Please see review on bookstagram -link below.

Jess Kidd’s Things in Jars was one of my books of the year in 2019. I don’t think her new novel, The Night Ship, will achieve the same honour this year, but it’s still a book that I enjoyed very much. It takes as its starting point a real historical event – a 17th century shipwreck – and uses it to tell the stories of two children whose lives are separated by more than three hundred years.

In 1629, a nine-year-old Dutch girl, Mayken, is sailing to the Dutch East Indies aboard the Batavia, accompanied by her nursemaid. It’s a long journey and Mayken occupies herself by exploring the ship and getting to know some of the passengers and crew. When one of her new friends tells her about the legendary eel-like monster known as Bullebak, Mayken becomes convinced that Bullebak is the cause of everything bad that is happening aboard the ship and she sets out to capture the monster in a jug.

In 1989, nine-year-old Gil arrives on an island off the west coast of Australia to live with his grandfather following the death of his mother. Gil is a lonely child who has never fit in and he struggles to settle into his new life on the island. He finds some comfort in playing with his best friend, the tortoise Enkidu, and in watching the work of the scientists who have come to the island to investigate the wreck of the Batavia.

The stories of Gil and Mayken alternate throughout the novel so that we spend about the same amount of time with each of them. It soon becomes clear that although the two children are leading very different lives, there are also some parallels between them. Not only will Mayken’s ship be wrecked on Gil’s island, both children have recently lost their mother and are trying to come to terms with this. They are also both drawn to the tales of monsters who appear in their national folklore – for Mayken, it’s Bullebak, and for Gil, the Bunyip. However, I had expected the two storylines to tie together more closely at the end and was slightly disappointed that this didn’t really happen.

I knew nothing about the fate of the people on board the Batavia before I read this book and if you’re not familiar with it either I recommend not looking it up until you’ve finished. It wasn’t actually the shipwreck story that interested me the most, though – I found that I was drawn much more to Gil than to Mayken, despite Mayken’s storyline being more dramatic. Poor Gil has such a difficult time and parts of his story are heartbreaking. I should probably point out here that although both protagonists are young children, this is not a children’s book and is quite harrowing even for an adult to read! I must go back and read Jess Kidd’s earlier novels now; I meant to do that after finishing Things in Jars and never did.

A beautifully written, beautifully atmospheric read. A wonderful mixture of history and magical realism, with some super creepy folklore thrown in for good measure.

This is so beautifully written. It's traumatic, though. I was tense the whole time I read it! The plot is heart-breaking in itself, but the fact the book is well-written adds to the trauma. Everything is vividly described and the story is so immersive it felt like I was really there. Read it, but be ready!

An historical novel, based on the true story of the wrecked Batavia. Brilliantly written, that kept me hooked from the first page. At times I just couldn’t read quick enough to find out what was going to happen next.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I have read all of Kidd’s books to date and they just keep getting better and better. A dual narrative storyline dealing with factual events - the sinking of the ship Batavia and the horrific outcome - is well handled and both narrators are engaging. Kidd speeds up the pace of events towards the end of the novel well and the alternating timelines are deftly handled. As is the case in Kidd’s other books, there are supernatural elements and Kidd engages with the stories of two mythological monsters to connect the two narrators. Overall a totally engaging and thoroughly interesting read.

This historical novel marks a departure from Jess Kidd’s previous great, witty, unusual fiction and shows her talent for putting a fictional spin on true events. She writes in dual timelines of 17th and 20th centuries, linking the two with a tiny island off the west coast of Australia. In 1629 Mayken is a motherless young girl making a long voyage aboard the ship Batavia to join her father. In 1989 Gil, an orphaned boy, is sent to the island, which Mayken reached, to live with his grandfather.
The 1629 chapters follow Mayken in her curiosity to know about the other people living on the different decks of the ship and her belief in an evil mystical creature living in the hold. As events unfurl it isn’t necessarily the creature that Mayken should fear. There are other dangers on board. In 1989 Gil’s story has him afraid of residents on the island out to cause him harm.
Although the novel jumps frequently from one era to the other Kidd describes the children’s emotions so well that we are eager to return to each child to see how they are coping with their difficult lives.

The book is based on true events regarding the Batavia’s voyage and the last few chapters of the book come as a shocking and brutal denouement. This is a story which will stay with you and encourage you to research further into the fate of the Batavia.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC and to Jess Kidd for bringing this historical event to the attention of her readers.

The Night Ship is two different stories in the same book.

The tragedy of Batavia, and the story of Gil in the same islands where Batavia's story ended.

It's part historical fiction, part ghost story (I'm not really sure), part life story, and quite sad and gloomy in the end.

Sadly it didn't really do it for me.

‘The Night Ship’ is yet another beautifully written and wonderfully conceived story by Jess Kidd about two young outsiders, separated by over three hundred years. In 1629, Mayken is on the Batavia, bound for her unknown father’s home in the Dutch East Indies. In 1989, Gil has been left with his tough, uncompromising grandfather on a tiny island off Western Australia. Both live under the shadow of their mothers’ recent deaths; both have been schooled what to say when asked about the tragedies.
Kidd’s retelling of the true story of the Batavia’s voyage is almost visceral in its depiction of life aboard a seventeenth century sailing ship. The squalor, disease, terrors of the hull, pus and blood on the surgeon’s knife, the dead eyes of the steward Pelgrom and the lurking presence of the fabled Bullebak all reinforce the brutal atmosphere on board. No wonder that the reader cannot help but admire Mayken’s curiosity, imagination, determination and bravery. She is both wholly believable and a delightful symbol of courage.
As is Gil. Left alone to wander the barren island, he quickly learns of the Batavia’s relationship with the present. The stories he picks up ‘…keep[s] his mind here, on this lonely island, and not … back across the water, back across the land, to where the real ghosts live.’ Just as there are all manner of folk on the Batavia, some kind and considerate, others evil, so is the case on the island.
Jess Kidd has given us a novel which explores extremes of experience in an entirely plausible dual narrative. Her children are tough and vulnerable, imaginative and pragmatic. I love them both.
My thanks to NetGalley and Canongate for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

I enjoy books written in duel timelines especially those based on factual events, so when I saw this novel I jumped at the chance to read it. I’ve heard good praise for Jess Kidds previous books and now after reading this I can see why. Very well plotted and written in a way that made the story flow effortlessly with a satisfying ending. Thoroughly enjoyed and will now certainly be picking up more by this author.

A dual timeline featuring a young girl on a ship going to find her father in Batavia, and in the 1980's a boy on an Australian island. Both characters were interesting and likeable, but the link between the two was a bit tenuous. They are marooned on the same island, have the same magic stone and are scared of monsters, but I hoped that they would become more intertwined.
I did have to work at the last third, there is a whole lot of not much happening - which would be true of a long distance voyage but I don't necessarily want to live through it myself. Then suddenly the author must have rediscovered her plot notes as in the last 10% action comes thick and fast.
The stories were good, perhaps a little finesse on the editing would have made it great.

I was intrigued to read that Jess Kidd had turned her hand to writing historical fiction with a story based on an actual event. I wondered if she would still be able to introduce her usual magic when writing about hard facts. Of course she does and does it beautifully too.

The Night Ship of the title is the Batavia which sailed from Holland bound for the Spice Islands in 1629. The ship carried a cargo of silver coin to purchase spices, and on board, as well as a large crew, were a number of soldiers and private travellers including women and children. One of the children is the delightful, feisty, nine year old Mayken whose mother has recently died. She is travelling with her nurse to join her father and it is her story we share told in alternate chapters with that of Gil.

Gil is also nine and he has also recently lost his mother. The year is 1989 and he is living on a small island off the coast of Western Australia with his fisherman Grandfather. His story is horribly sad and I cried all the way through one chapter involving a tortoise. You have to read it to understand!
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.

The Night Ship is part ghost story, part horror story, part magical fiction and also an historical record of a shocking event which makes you want to immediately go away to research all the background facts. It is a masterpiece of story telling and there is so much more in it that I have not even mentioned. Beautifully written, heart wrenching and showing the absolute extremes of human behaviour - I loved every word of it.