The value of a moment becomes clear when you're not promised another.
The Night Ship knocked me upside down and backwards. I was not prepared for what was tucked expertly between these pages. A 5-Star banner has not often been flown high for me this year. And here's the blatant truth: This one is gonna stay with you. Guaranteed.
Jess Kidd's Things in Jars (2020) grabbed me as well. I was taken with it. But The Night Ship shot for all the stars in its telling. Kidd creates a double-edged sword based on an actual Dutch shipwreck along Beacon Island near Western Australia in 1629. We are welcomed aboard by nine year old Mayken and her nursemaid, Imke. Mayken's mother died recently and she's being taken to the estate of her merchant father. The ship is filled with hundreds of passengers, sailors, crew, and soldiers that will add to its layer upon layer of suspense.
What transpires aboard the Batavia 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.
The Night Ship will visit relationships based on social class, occupation, gender, age, and physical forebearance. Brutalities will exist from the past that bleed into the present. And at the core is the impact of human nature......survival of the fittest. Kidd gives us a wide open view of the aftermath of the shipwreck and the fate of its survivors on this island. I was totally unaware. It is jaw-dropping. The Night Ship is a hard look at what people will do when they forget that they are people. Raw, revealing, and utterly fascinating. I recommend this for those who want a literary step above.....it'll take you there.
I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Simon & Schuster and to the talented Jess Kidd for the opportunity.
The Night Ship knocked me upside down and backwards. I was not prepared for what was tucked expertly between these pages. A 5-Star banner has not often been flown high for me this year. And here's the blatant truth: This one is gonna stay with you. Guaranteed.
Jess Kidd's Things in Jars (2020) grabbed me as well. I was taken with it. But The Night Ship shot for all the stars in its telling. Kidd creates a double-edged sword based on an actual Dutch shipwreck along Beacon Island near Western Australia in 1629. We are welcomed aboard by nine year old Mayken and her nursemaid, Imke. Mayken's mother died recently and she's being taken to the estate of her merchant father. The ship is filled with hundreds of passengers, sailors, crew, and soldiers that will add to its layer upon layer of suspense.
What transpires aboard the Batavia 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.
The Night Ship will visit relationships based on social class, occupation, gender, age, and physical forebearance. Brutalities will exist from the past that bleed into the present. And at the core is the impact of human nature......survival of the fittest. Kidd gives us a wide open view of the aftermath of the shipwreck and the fate of its survivors on this island. I was totally unaware. It is jaw-dropping. The Night Ship is a hard look at what people will do when they forget that they are people. Raw, revealing, and utterly fascinating. I recommend this for those who want a literary step above.....it'll take you there.
I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Simon & Schuster and to the talented Jess Kidd for the opportunity.