THE NIGHT SHIP by Jess Kidd

 

MY THOUGHTS

WOW.. I mean WOW.. This book is my first by this author. It is a very intense and sad story. Actually it's two stories in one. One is in 1628-29 and the other in 1989. So many years apart. It's kind of like the later year is history repeating itself in ways. Although it's about the people from the ship Batavia. The child in particular. 

My favorite line: GIL STRETCHES OUT HIS TOES. SOMETHING LIES ON THE BEDSHEET. HE SITS UP TO INVESTIGATE AND FINDS GREEN BROCADE, FOLDED NEATLY, RICH AND FESTIVE IN HIS TORCHLIGHT. (This is my favorite for reasons only known to me. It just touched my heart.)

A little nine year old girl named Mayken... What she went through after losing her mom and being sent to her father whom she has never met. Headed to Australia. What happens on this ship and after it wrecks is horrible. It's very sad. Not in a cry your eyes out way, though you probably will in places, but in a how horrible that this really happened kind of way. The things that these people went through trying to survive. The horrors and the many many deaths. 

A young, nine year old boy Gil.. He lost his mother. He was sent to his grandpa, the only family he had left. This young boy is a free spirit. His mother never really gave him anything except to let him be who he was. Unrestricted it seems. He could dress and act however he wanted. He was not given things like cars or trucks. Or anything that most normal boys had. He had an imagination though and that could come to hurt him in this new faraway land. 

Mayken is said to be a ghost on the island where Gil lives. The people of the island believe it. He knows that there was a ship that wrecked many years ago and that there are possible bones and treasures buried on the island. The people on the island are not very kind to Gil. They think him strange. Especially some of the young boys and their dad. 

You will love both Mayken and Gil. Also Gil's pet turtle Enkidu. He's a very old turtle that Gil loves and takes the best care of. Gil and his grandpa go through a lot before they actually become friends but once they do it's a great relationship. 

There are quite a few characters in this story but not confusing to keep up with. The only problem I had was pronouncing their names. Boy they were tough ones. Some of these characters are so likable and some not so much. Some are downright cruel and horrid. Some are compassionate and caring. Things will happen that will make you cringe. Make you sad and possible cry. Toward the end I was ugly crying. But it's still a good story. One I'm so glad I read. I did not know anything about this era. This ship and these people. Now I've learned something new and I love that.

Thank you #NetGalley, #JessKidd, #Atria for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.

5 huge stars and a very high recommendation. 

SYNOPSIS

Based on a true story, an epic historical novel from the award-winning author of Things in Jars that illuminates the lives of two characters: a girl shipwrecked on an island off Western Australia and, three hundred years later, a boy finding a home with his grandfather on the very same island.

1629: A newly orphaned young girl named Mayken is bound for the Dutch East Indies on the Batavia, one of the greatest ships of the Dutch Golden Age. Curious and mischievous, Mayken spends the long journey going on misadventures above and below the deck, searching for a mythical monster. But the true monsters might be closer than she thinks.

1989: A lonely boy named Gil is sent to live off the coast of Western Australia among the seasonal fishing community where his late mother once resided. There, on the tiny reef-shrouded island, he discovers the story of an infamous shipwreck…

With her trademark “thrilling, mysterious, twisted, but more than anything, beautifully written” (Graham Norton, New York Times bestselling author) storytelling, Jess Kidd weaves “a true work of magic” (V.E. Schwab, author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue) about friendship, sacrifice, brutality, and forgiveness.