When the young daughter of a merchant sets sail on the Batavia to join her father, she's excited by everything around her: the nimble sailors, the giant soldier, the colours and sounds of the ship.

But anyone with a knowledge of the history will know that this story isn't going to end well. The story of The Batavia is one of horror: shipwreck, treacher,y murder and enslavement.

The Night Ship, the new novel by Jess Kidd, takes that history and crafts something new, moving between the distant and recent past, as the stories of two lonely children connect across the centuries.