Mayken is the child, a young Dutch child, nine years old. Her mother has died, so she is sailing aboard the ‘Batavia’ with her nursemaid, Imke, bound for Batavia in the Dutch East Indies (now Jakarta, Indonesia), where her father lives. Half of the book is her story, a fictionalised account of the true voyage in 1628. Wallabi Island (left), Beacon Island (centre) and Morning Reef (right). Image: Hesperian with NASA satellite photos via Wiki Commons. - image and text from Sea Museum

How would you characterize the tone of the story? How does the language contribute to the tone? What else contributes to it? As tiny as it is, the cabin contains a lamp, a slatted window, and a narrow table and stool. Their chests are already waiting in the corner. Imke’s chest contains three wheels of cheese, a spare skirt, and a needlework box. Mayken’s contains mostly silverware. Jess Kidd's latest offering has her trademark supernatural elements, and features an atmospheric storyline that shifts between 2 children, both 9 years old, living centuries apart and have just lost their mothers. It is 1628, Mayken is travelling with her beloved nursemaid, Imke, with her gift of prophecy, on the Batavia, the eponymous Night Ship, planning to join her father, who she doesn't know. The Batavia is sailing under upper merchant, Francisco Pelsaert, skipper Ariaen Jacobsz, both men hate each other, and the sly under merchant Jeronimus Cornelisz, it is an East India Company ship carrying a cargo richer than the treasuries of many kingdoms. In 1989, the lonely and reluctant Gil arrives on the sparsely populated Australian Beacon Island to live with his fisherman grandfather, Joss Hurley, a man shunned by other islanders, with a long running feud with the powerful Zanetti family.I’m not normally a huge fan of books where children are the protagonists, but I very much enjoyed this, and will be hunting down more of Jess Kidd’s books. Imke’s second sight has likely rubbed off on Mayken. The old woman vows to be more circumspect with her visions. A more beautiful novel, The Night Ship could not have been. And this is why Jess Kidd continues to be my most favorite writer we have today. There are few quite like her. Discuss the differences and similarities between Mayken and Gil. Despite their being more than three hundred years apart, what are some of their shared experiences? Mayken, woken by the change in the ship’s movement, slips out of her bunk. She peers at her nursemaid. The old woman sleeps on, mouth open, breath evil, cap crooked.

There are many books around at the moment featuring children as narrators and protagonists. But Kidd has created such delightful characters – both very different but also similar in key ways – that it is a joy to spend time with them. And what Kidd does well in The Night Ship is to give a child’s view of the world that also provides insight into the interactions of the adults around them in a way that allows the reader to understand what is going on. While there is a large body of both true and fictional works centred around the Batavia, The Night Ship provides new insights into both that benighted voyage and the isolated islands on which the survivors found themselves. 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. Mayken loves the sailors instantly. The daring of them, their speed along the ropes, the heights they climb to! The predikant is pointing out the Dutch East India Company cadets and officials gathering at the top of the stern castle. Look, there is the upper-merchant in his red coat and plumed hat. Flanked by the under-merchant, also well hatted, and the stout old skipper, hatless. Three men entrusted by the Company with a cargo richer than the treasuries of many kingdoms, the lives of hundreds of innocent souls and this wonderful ship, newly built—her maiden voyage! Imke nods as though she’s interested. Mrs. Predikant stares ahead with her mouth turned down, trout-like, abiding. The greatest disgrace of humankind is the failure of the strong to protect the weak. We don't need monsters. We are the monsters."There is the expected crossover in certain events, experiences and objects that dual timeline stories tend to have. But Kidd goes further than that and very cleverly weaves the stories together in such a way that they meet and move away time and time again. It reminded me very much of the beautiful dance seen in a murmuration of starlings. The best thing about Imke is her missing finger tops. Mayken gets a thrill just looking at them. Second and third fingers, right hand, nubbed joints smoothed over where nails ought to be. Imke will not tell how she lost her finger tops. Mayken never tires of guessing. 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. The cast of characters include many "real life" identities, and it is obvious that Kidd has done her research uncovering them.