The novelist’s distinct mix of modern gothic and historical caper is well suited to this island tale of two motherless children, separated by centuries. Mayken is the eight-year-old daughter of a wealthy merchant of the Dutch East India Company, sailing on the state-of-the-art ship Batavia to be put into her father’s care after the death of her mother in 1628. Nine-year-old Gil has also lost his young mother and in 1989 is sent to live with his taciturn grandfather, a fisherman who works the coral reefs of the Houtman Abrolhos islands off the west coast of Australia, where the Batavia was wrecked on the last leg of its journey to Indonesia. One of the first landmarks Gil sees in his new home is the Raggedy Tree, where superstitious fishermen hang ribbons and dolls to placate the unquiet spirit of a little girl said to haunt the island.