The Night Ship by Jess Kidd

"One sailor saw a dead eel in a barrel of vinegar. But it might not have been dead, because you know what eels are like."

In 1628, Mayken and her nursemaid Imke set sail for Batavia on the Batavia. Imke is taking Mayken to live with her father after her mother dies. During the journey Mayken learns of a monster that lives below deck and takes the form of a giant eel, Bullebak. Mayken comes to believe Bullebak is real when Imke's toe is bitten and begins her quest to capture the monster on board.

In 1989, newly orphaned Gil is sent to live with his ill-tempered grandfather, Joss, on the island where his mother grew up. Once on the island, Gil is ostracized by the small community and left alone most of the day while his grandfather goes out fishing. Left to his own devices, he learns about a ghost that haunts the island and the ship that wrecked just offshore.

I loved the tone of this book. While killing mothers in the opening act is nothing new - Disney has made a fortune off of orphaned characters with childhood trauma - it absolutely cements that tone. It's a sad story but not a depressing story; where there is sadness there is also the hope that things will get better. The author manages to blend sadness and hope perfectly and keeps them balanced throughout the story.

I liked some of the parallels running between the two timelines. Mayken and Gil are both orphans but outside of this similarity, I feel like they are polar opposites. Mayken is outgoing and largely accepted by everyone she meets and even when she's caught sneaking around where she's not supposed to be, the people who catch her still like her. Gil is closed off socially and emotionally, alone from the beginning. He's an outsider where outsiders aren't welcomed, related to a man who isn't well-liked and presumed guilty by association. Mayken spends many of her days on board the ship hunting Bullebak with the help of her friends while Gil's thoughts are haunted by the same ghost that is said to haunt the island and a creature called a bunyip. They're so busy looking for monsters neither can see that the real monsters are human ones.

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

I feel like if I had to nail down a theme for this it would be loneliness. It's illustrated by Gil's journey as much as it is by Mayken's ending. Gil, who spends the bulk of his time alone in this novel, eventually winds up being supported by some of the very people who shunned him. Mayken on the other hand befriends almost everybody but her last few moments she spends alone and undefended.

*** END OF SPOILER ***

While there are parallels running between them, I thought JK did a great job at keeping the plotlines separate entities in each timeline. If you read just the chapters taking place in 1628, Mayken's story would read the same whether or not you read about Gil in 1989 and vice versa. It was very organized which is a feature I appreciate more and more the older I get.

I thought this was a great read.