The Night Ship

A Novel

By: Jess Kidd

Narrated by: Fleur De Wit, Adam Fitzgerald

Based on a true story, an epic historical novel from the award-winning author of Things in Jars that illuminates the lives of two characters: a girl shipwrecked on an island off Western Australia and, three hundred years later, a boy finding a home with his grandfather on the very same island.

1629: A newly orphaned young girl named Mayken is bound for the Dutch East Indies on the Batavia, one of the greatest ships of the Dutch Golden Age. Curious and mischievous, Mayken spends the long journey going on misadventures above and below the deck, searching for a mythical monster. But the true monsters might be closer than she thinks.

1989: A lonely boy named Gil is sent to live off the coast of Western Australia among the seasonal fishing community where his late mother once resided. There, on the tiny reef-shrouded island, he discovers the story of an infamous shipwreck…

With her trademark “thrilling, mysterious, twisted, but more than anything, beautifully written” (Graham Norton, New York Times bestselling author) storytelling, Jess Kidd weaves “a true work of magic” (V.E. Schwab, author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue) about friendship, sacrifice, brutality, and forgiveness.

Critic reviews

"In 1628, a Dutch ship bound for Batavia (now Indonesia) sank off the coast of Australia. This audiobook is the fictional accounts of a 9-year-old Dutch girl who perished on the adjacent lonely island and a 9-year-old misfit Australian boy three hundred years later. In a gentle, innocent tone, Fleur De Wit narrates the story of Mayken, a privileged girl of aristocratic lineage and boundless curiosity. As Mayken befriends sailors and dreams of pirate adventures, De Wit adds verbal touches of character. Alternating chapters narrated by Adam Fitzgerald describe the struggles of Gil, whose drug-addicted mother’s death results in his being raised by his grandfather, a gruff fisherman who lives on the remote island in 1989. In an Australian accent, Fitzgerald describes Gil’s discovery of artifacts from the fifteenth-century wreck."

Kidd does it again

Dark, well researched, and told believably through the eyes of children. Fascinating history about an island and shipwreck I’d never heard of. Voices on the Batavia were grating and Sylvia’s accent was NOT Italian but otherwise good narration.

Mesmerizing!

I was captured the very minute I started listening ~ the story’s intrigue coupled with the authors gifted writing made this a book to never forget!!

Perhaps I will read this book myself.

I like the stories. I like the historical detail, the sometimes humorous dialogue and the structure of alternating characters, but I had to give up in the middle of chapter five. Fleur de Wit is a smooth reader with a pleasant voice, but the way that she voices the characters is excruciatingly bad. I would like to know the rest of the story, but I cannot fathom sitting through one more bad-muppet second of dialogue. Do yourself a favor and read the paper book.

Mica’s Story was Enough

Dear Editors: Why must every current story go back and forth in time? Mica’s story of her journey on the Batavia was filled with great characters and the view of this sailing adventure through the eyes of this adventurous young girl. I loved it. Every time it switched to Gil’s story in 1989 I was disappointed. I wanted to care about Gil but just couldn’t get there. I loved his relationship with his turtle but knew he was going to be bullied by the mean children on the island before it happened. There really was no major find from the shipwreck in 1989 to tie these 2 time periods together. The 1628 sailing and Mica’s telling of the journey was a wonderful and complete work. I really just felt like an editor told Jess Kidd that the book must go back and forth in time to satisfy this current unnecessary style of writing a novel. I might have enjoyed it more if the 1628 sailing was Part 1, 1989 Part 2, and Part 3 an expansion of the epilogue with current information from a scientist studying the wreckage. Actually, Part 2, Gil’s story could have been entirely skipped. It was just depressing.

Based on a true story of mutiny and muder

Mixed feelings about this book. Wanted more connections between Gill and Micah. A lot of murder and hate which is so prevalent with greed and power.