My concern was all for naught, though. Now don’t get me wrong: Kidd has done her historical research, and she’s done it well. But to my delight, still incorporated within the history of the story is her unique brand of magic and the supernatural, allowing for ghosts and a mythical sea monster to be weaved into the narrative. Mayken must not say a word about the baby because it shouldn’t have been up there in the first place. She has practised with her nursemaid.

Kidd introduces magical realism with all the many links between these two children who are both facing their own monsters, named according to their own country's folklore, Mayken's Bullebak and Gil's Bunyip.

Beautifully written, with child characters who stole my heart, centered around a historic event that I knew nothing about - things that made for an appealing read to me . It’s a dual story line with time frames, three hundred and sixty years apart, yet there are touching connections between the two children portrayed here and stunning connections between the the humanity and inhumanity in both times.

anything 3 star and above is still a positive review. I consider a three star review to be more of a positive-neutral review. I don’t think I can do justice to this amazing story, so I’m including a link to my friend Linda’s review, who has done just that. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... The stories unfold in alternate chapters, linked by repeated phrases, talismans and the myth of a terrifying sea monster. With a nod to the Australian horror film The Babadook, Gil finds an old storybook of his mother’s behind a cabinet, telling the tale of a bunyip, an eel-like shapeshifter that preys on children. As with the Babadook, the creature (whose legend originates with the indigenous people) is a projection of fear. “How do you describe dread, Gil?” asks Birgit, one of the scientists. “That’s what the bunyip is: an attempt to give fear a shape.” Gil’s new life, like Mayken’s is one without many - if any - friends. Those they turn to tend to be adults who either try to make them see how it is ‘their fault’ - they are too different, too unusual, and not acceptable to be a friend, where others try to encourage them to not listen to ‘those’ people who would try to make them change. There are two narrators, each reading the chapters concerning one of the protagonists. I have no complaints about Adam Fitzgerald.Historical Fiction with touches of Magical Realism is the spark that led to requesting this ARC and my first experience reading one of Jess Kidd's books. If I were to briefly describe this story, I would say it is 'very full'. Full of history and imagination, survival and tragedy, life and death, darkness and light, and everything in-between.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Canongate via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Night Ship by Jess Kidd for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions. If your reading group has not yet read Jess Kidd’s other novels, Things in Jars, Himself, or Mr. Flood’s Last Resort, choose one of them and discuss it at your next gathering. What similarities do they share with The Night Ship? What differences? What themes do you think interest Jess Kidd as a writer?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!" Both stories are linked through dutch and Australian folklore, although there are a lot of additional commonalities between the two children as they are bound by loss, grief, and trauma.