An adventurous and tragic tale involving a shipwreck, mutiny, a desolate island and two children hundreds of years apart.
This story is a fascinating blend of fact and fiction, based on the true story of the Batavia ship which sunk on its maiden voyage off the Western coast of Australia in 1629. What made this shipwreck so well known is the tragedy of the subsequent mutiny among the survivors that took place on the isolated Houtman Abrolhos islands.
The author has successfully weaved the facts of this story featuring real historic figures with her own creative narrative featuring a young girl called Mayken who boards the Batavia and discovers the shadowy secrets above and below the ship’s deck. In parallel there is a connective story hundreds of years later in 1989 with a boy called Gil who lives on a remote isolated fishing island with his prickly and reclusive grandfather, who gets involved with the wrong people.
I was captivated by these two interwoven narratives with chapters that left me wanting more. I knew little about the Batavia shipwreck prior to reading this book. After many a late night researching the historic events, I found this read extremely impressive in its handling of the subject matter, vividly bringing to life the tough and dangerous voyage at sea highlighting the first class lifestyle above deck and the dark, cramped and sinister lifestyle of the soldiers, cooks and working class below deck. I definitely felt the fatigue of the long voyage that Mayken endured together with her nursemaid, Imke (💔) and loved the characters of Holdfast and John Pinten. The 1989 narrative with Gil was also compelling and often times harrowing especially with his relationship with his spiky grandfather and his friendship with Endiku 🐢
The fictional supernatural elements with the Bullebak and Bunyip creatures inspired by folklore and myth that were present on Batavia and on the island added an eerie and gothic feel to the story, which definitely caught the imagination. Lastly I loved the merging narratives for Mayken and Gil, closely tying their journey and fate, making this a complex multi-layered plot.
This story is a fascinating blend of fact and fiction, based on the true story of the Batavia ship which sunk on its maiden voyage off the Western coast of Australia in 1629. What made this shipwreck so well known is the tragedy of the subsequent mutiny among the survivors that took place on the isolated Houtman Abrolhos islands.
The author has successfully weaved the facts of this story featuring real historic figures with her own creative narrative featuring a young girl called Mayken who boards the Batavia and discovers the shadowy secrets above and below the ship’s deck. In parallel there is a connective story hundreds of years later in 1989 with a boy called Gil who lives on a remote isolated fishing island with his prickly and reclusive grandfather, who gets involved with the wrong people.
I was captivated by these two interwoven narratives with chapters that left me wanting more. I knew little about the Batavia shipwreck prior to reading this book. After many a late night researching the historic events, I found this read extremely impressive in its handling of the subject matter, vividly bringing to life the tough and dangerous voyage at sea highlighting the first class lifestyle above deck and the dark, cramped and sinister lifestyle of the soldiers, cooks and working class below deck. I definitely felt the fatigue of the long voyage that Mayken endured together with her nursemaid, Imke (💔) and loved the characters of Holdfast and John Pinten. The 1989 narrative with Gil was also compelling and often times harrowing especially with his relationship with his spiky grandfather and his friendship with Endiku 🐢
The fictional supernatural elements with the Bullebak and Bunyip creatures inspired by folklore and myth that were present on Batavia and on the island added an eerie and gothic feel to the story, which definitely caught the imagination. Lastly I loved the merging narratives for Mayken and Gil, closely tying their journey and fate, making this a complex multi-layered plot.