The Night Ship

Product Information

The stories unfold in alternate chapters, linked by repeated phrases, talismans and the myth of a terrifying sea monster. With a nod to the Australian horror film The Babadook, Gil finds an old storybook of his mother’s behind a cabinet, telling the tale of a bunyip, an eel-like shapeshifter that preys on children. As with the Babadook, the creature (whose legend originates with the indigenous people) is a projection of fear. “How do you describe dread, Gil?” asks Birgit, one of the scientists. “That’s what the bunyip is: an attempt to give fear a shape.” Q: You created such a varied cast of characters. Was there one character who was your favorite to write about? If so, why? 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. With "THE NIGHT SHIP" Kidd has weaved together two of my favourite genres and the result is another stellar book.

Because Imke looks as if she might cry and Mayken loves her, she reaches out her hand and strokes the tops of the old woman’s missing fingers. Alas, despite its resplendent start, the book ran aground towards the end. The promise of dark magical realism, unimaginable wonders and a nightmarish sea monster never really materialised and the story just fizzled out like a damp squid squib. Goods, declared and otherwise. Plate, velvet, brocade, jewels, a Roman cameo the size of a soup bowl, silver bedposts, an ugly agate vase of vast worth. Crew, declared and otherwise. Passengers ditto. Kidd has made much of the settings and the characters, tying them together around the ‘Batavia’ tragedy. She has put the actual crew and passengers into the story, and made it all too real. A good, if sad, read. 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.

Find a Book

Jess Kidd’s novels cross genres, blending light and darkness, whimsy and mystery, the real and the supernatural. If you had to sum up this book in one line, how would you describe it? The same. He makes it his business to know every last soul on board. Stonecutter counts the bloody rats. He’d know straightaway that you are an impostor. And if you get caught—” A special shout out to the sour-faced tortoise Enkidu, who always made me smile even while reading some of the horrors that Mayken and Gil had to cope with! You can buy The Night Ship from Abbey’s at a 10% discount by quoting the promotion code NEWTOWNREVIEW.

The scientists are there to dig trenches under our camp to find the Batavia that location was hard to locate from ancient records. The history of Mayken’s ‘Batavia’ voyage and the violent, blood-thirsty brutality of the crew are well known, making the islands a popular place for visitors to search for artefacts. This gives an opportunity for Mayken’s and Gil’s stories to parallel each other as he finds items that we know she used. In an echo of Mayken’s enjoyment of playing as a cabin-boy, Gil enjoys dressing in his grandmother’s old clothes: I love a good ghost story, and I love a good treasure hunt. The Night Ship has both and several other mysteries intertwined. The story alternates between the lives of two children, Gil in 1989, and Mayken in 1629. Both children have suffered loss and trauma and navigate it in their own way. They each have an assortment of people around them ranging from high class to low lifes and everyone in between. Looks are often deceiving and people aren’t always what they seem. Each child has parental figures who step in at different times in their journeys (for example, Imke, Holdfast, Dutch and Silvia). How would you describe these stand-in parents? In what ways were these adults important for Mayken and Gil?She feels a soft touch on her arm. The grown daughter is saying something earnest about mothers and angels.

Storytelling is woven into THE NIGHT SHIP in various ways, including through folklore and family histories. What do you think the author is trying to achieve with these layers of storytelling? When he arrives, his grandfather is waiting for him, and it is clear the others standing around are not friendly toward them, their ’hostile glances’ are all Gil needs to understand the situation. They head toward his home.Pelgrom shrugs. Mayken tries to scratch under her cap, only her sleeves are too long. Pelgrom rolls them up. His smile is charming. Mirroring Mayken’s life on the Batavia in many ways is that of another nine year old, Gil in 1989. Both children have recently lost their mothers and while Mayken is being taken by her nursemaid to her father in the East Indies, Gil is sent to live with his grandfat