Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Atria Books for gifting me the latest historical fiction novel by Jess Kidd - 4 stars!
Based on a real-life event, this book centers on two 9-year-old characters - Mayken is newly orphaned and bound for the Dutch East Indies in 1629 on the ship Batavia; and Gil, sent to live off the coast of Western Australia with his grandfather in 1989 after his mother's death. We go along Mayken's journey on the ship, from initial boarding to being shipwrecked on the same island that Gil finds himself on 350 years later.
I liked the way this story played out - short interchanging chapters between Mayken and Gil's lives, and the fact that Gil discovers the story of the shipwreck and those searching the island for artifacts. It's full of beautiful writing, even when the subject matter is disturbing. A hint of supernatural, ghost story passed down for centuries winds itself through this book. Both these characters find themselves on the outside of their world, never quite fitting in their own skins. I was drawn more to Gil's story and found myself anxious to get back to his chapters. Jess Kidd once again makes you inhabit entire new worlds.
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