A Novel
by Jess Kidd
Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Oct 2022
400 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publication Information
Based on a real-life event, 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 unputdownable and charming tale of friendship and sacrifice, brutality and forgiveness.
"The lives of two 9-year-olds—one in 1628 and the other in 1989—intersect across time in this moving examination of the real-life wreck of the Batavia...Her prose has an arresting simplicity that evokes fairy tales...An ambitious, melancholy work of historical fiction that offers two wondrous young protagonists for the price of one." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"[I]ntriguing...Kidd effortlessly navigates between the two time periods, highlighting the similarities between Mayken's and Gil's lives and the increasing dangers they face. Readers will be swept up in this fast-paced narrative." - Publishers Weekly
"Kidd's latest weaves a spell around the reader, transporting them across centuries, between a doomed ship and a dying island. The result is a true work of magic, and one that will haunt me for years." - V.E. Schwab, international bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
This information about The Night Ship was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Jess Kidd is the award-winning author of The Night Ship, Himself, Mr. Flood's Last Resort, and Things in Jars.
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