The book is about a girl who becomes shipwrecked on an island off west Australia, three hundred years later a boy and his grandfather make their home on that very same island. It’s based on a true story and is truly an epic historical novel, I was completely immersed in reading this.
I’ve never read any of Jess kidd’s books at all but this novel was so good that I could NOT even put it down. I normally read fantasy novels but this novel was just incredible, i definitely will start reading the rest of her works now.
What transpires aboard the Batavia (the ship) will definitely hold you rigid to this storyline. Mayken is a wild spirit of a child who lives in a fantastical world of her own making. She adores folklore and lives for twisty legends that put both joy and fear into her. Mayken convinces Jan Pelgrom, a steward, to allow her to dress as a kitchen boy and visit the Below World of the ship so different from her Above World. It is here that Mayken will be wrapped in the stories of the bunyip who appear to be little eels. But mind you, they are monsters of the highest level causing bad luck and tragedies.
Jess Kidd flips the storyline to 1989 on Beacon Island where nine year old Gil Hurley will be placed in the home of his grandfather, Joss, after the death of his mother. The island holds the secrets of this shipwreck as well as the shady lives of its inhabitants. There are feuds brewing within families over land and possessions. And young Gil will be encouraged to "just fit in" when, in reality, he possesses a coat of many colors......unacceptance, misjudgments, and outward cruelties will follow his every step.
I’ve never read any of Jess kidd’s books at all but this novel was so good that I could NOT even put it down. I normally read fantasy novels but this novel was just incredible, i definitely will start reading the rest of her works now.
What transpires aboard the Batavia (the ship) will definitely hold you rigid to this storyline. Mayken is a wild spirit of a child who lives in a fantastical world of her own making. She adores folklore and lives for twisty legends that put both joy and fear into her. Mayken convinces Jan Pelgrom, a steward, to allow her to dress as a kitchen boy and visit the Below World of the ship so different from her Above World. It is here that Mayken will be wrapped in the stories of the bunyip who appear to be little eels. But mind you, they are monsters of the highest level causing bad luck and tragedies.
Jess Kidd flips the storyline to 1989 on Beacon Island where nine year old Gil Hurley will be placed in the home of his grandfather, Joss, after the death of his mother. The island holds the secrets of this shipwreck as well as the shady lives of its inhabitants. There are feuds brewing within families over land and possessions. And young Gil will be encouraged to "just fit in" when, in reality, he possesses a coat of many colors......unacceptance, misjudgments, and outward cruelties will follow his every step.