The Night Ship

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As tiny as it is, the cabin contains a lamp, a slatted window, and a narrow table and stool. Their chests are already waiting in the corner. Imke’s chest contains three wheels of cheese, a spare skirt, and a needlework box. Mayken’s contains mostly silverware.

The great-bellied ship looms above. One, two, three masts—rising up through a web of rope. The pennant flags snap and stream against a sky of lowering clouds. Imke sniffs. “The lady is going to drink wine in the Great Cabin with the upper-merchant. The maid is to rein in her wayward bosom.”The cast of characters include many "real life" identities, and it is obvious that Kidd has done her research uncovering them. How does Kidd mirror Mayken and Gil’s separate journeys in chapters 1 and 2? As the story progresses, do you find Gil’s outsider identity important to the novel? How does his ‘otherness’ reflect Mayken’s experience? I love a good ghost story, and I love a good treasure hunt. The Night Ship has both and several other mysteries intertwined. The story alternates between the lives of two children, Gil in 1989, and Mayken in 1629. Both children have suffered loss and trauma and navigate it in their own way. They each have an assortment of people around them ranging from high class to low lifes and everyone in between. Looks are often deceiving and people aren’t always what they seem. Mayken is a fine lady so she gets the winched seat, which is a plank with ropes attached at the corners. An old sailor wearing an India shawl around his head helps her up. I loved the elements of magical realism tied into the narrative through legends/folklore. People having a second sight, a stone with a hole in the middle that allows the beholder to gaze into the past or future, and best of all, a mythical creature that lives in the bilge of the boat.

Unlike in her previous book, Things in Jars, which dealt very considerably with things fantastical, the unreality of the creatures May and Gil perceive is much more subtle. The creatures both claim to be real may or may not be. But both creatures serve admirably as metaphors for the awfulness of humanity. Lying brings bad karma. Even a small lie can make something really bad happen and the karma will grow to match it.” Inspired by real events (the sinking of a Dutch merchant ship, The Batavia off the coast of Australia in 1628), the story unfolded slowly … knowingly … teasingly … deliciously. "Someone polish my barnacles!" I shouted. "This has five stars written all over it!"Tension ratchets up for both Mayken and Gil. While we know the fate of the Batavia, we do not know the fate of all those she carried. The tragedy of the story is well-known, but the author has made it personal and human, adding descriptive passages that add to the experiences of the children. This one is the old sailor teaching Mayken. Wallabi Island (left), Beacon Island (centre) and Morning Reef (right). Image: Hesperian with NASA satellite photos via Wiki Commons. - image and text from Sea Museum Both characters are riveting. Mayken is impish and fascinated with the world of the boat and the characters who inhabit it. Gil is awkward, lonely, a little weird, and terrified of the world. His only friend is a 900-year-old tortoise named Enkidu. Given that this book is based on real-life events that took place during the voyage of the Batavia (as we are reminded in the epilogue), what do you think we should take away from Mayken’s story?