The Night Ship

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Pelgrom is to thank for the distraction of the listening hole. Him and his borrowed carpenter’s tool. Pelgrom the shipworm. Each character brings something different to the story. Did you relate to any of them in particular? If so, please explain who and why. Gil’s mother has also passed away. Gil has also been instructed - by their former neighbor, how to respond when people ask about his mother.

Well?” Imke, propped up on one elbow, looks hopeful. “The lady is telling the maid off,” reports Mayken. “Use their proper names!”A rope falls, a cask drops, a sailor stumbles on the rigging. Imke looks alarmed; she is superstitious even for a peasant. ‘Close your mouth.’ The greatest disgrace of humankind is the failure of the strong to protect the weak. We don't need monsters. We are the monsters."

The Batavia heads out to meet the stormy Noord Zee with her cargo of wealth and wharf rats and souls. She is beautiful. Her upper works are painted green and yellow and at her prow—oh, best of all—crouches a carved red lion! His golden mane curls, his claws sink into the beam. He snarls down at the water.

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The Batavia replica was constructed between 1985 and 1995 at the Bataviawerf (Batavia shipyard) in Lelystad, The Netherlands. Image: Malis via Wiki Commons - image and text from Sea Museum Unlike in her previous book, Things in Jars, which dealt very considerably with things fantastical, the unreality of the creatures May and Gil perceive is much more subtle. The creatures both claim to be real may or may not be. But both creatures serve admirably as metaphors for the awfulness of humanity.

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 story is told across two timelines: In 1628, Mayken, a nonconformist girl, finds herself on a ship where dark folklore and omens gather like clouds. In 1989, Gil, a nonconformist youngster, finds himself on a haunted fishermen's island off the coast of Australia. Those short chapters do not mean that plot and character development suffer. The two main characters are beautifully drawn, as are their relationships with the adults they draw close to. I warmed to both of them and was deeply emotionally invested in how their stories would end. In fact, I was so caught up in the story I had to keep resisting the urge to scan further ahead to see how events panned out. Both children are nine when their mothers die. Other than that and a relic that once belonged to Mayken that is found and treasured by Gil, there's not a lot that connects them. I kept waiting for some amazing connection, some revelation, but it never came. Inspired by real events (the sinking of a Dutch merchant ship, The Batavia off the coast of Australia in 1628), the story unfolded slowly … knowingly … teasingly … deliciously. "Someone polish my barnacles!" I shouted. "This has five stars written all over it!"The Night Ship is an enthralling tale of human brutality, fate and friendship – and of two children, hundreds of years apart, whose destinies are inextricably bound together. Yes, the two protagonists in the story, Mayken and Gil, are connected despite being three centuries apart. Sometimes Gil imagines he hears the voice of the dead Dutch girl in the wind. He knows such things as ghosts don't exist. Not if their bones are treated with respect! Inspired by David Copperfield, Kingsolver crafts a 21st-century coming-of-age story set in America’s hard-pressed rural South. To drink wine in the Great Cabin with the upper-merchant.” “He has a notion for Lady Lucretia.” Imke frowns. “Zwaantie is

year-old Mayken, a dutch girl from an affluent family, boards the Batavia for a months-long journey to her new home in the Dutch East Indies. What she finds aboard is a world of wonder, not only begging for exploration but also a world that puts her life in danger. Decorating the stern of the ship is a row of great wooden men. Great in that they are almost life-height and full-bearded. Great, too, in that they wear long robes. 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!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. 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. An angry, powerful book seething with love and outrage for a community too often stereotyped or ignored. 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?