Accomplice

by Kathryn Heyman

THE ACCOMPLICE describes one of the most shocking events of the seventeenth the wreck of the Dutch ship Batavia off the coast of Western Australia, and the extraordinary events that befell its stranded survivors. Combining a gripping narrative with vivid historical detail, THE ACCOMPLICE is a beautiful, terrifying, deeply moving novel of love and anarchy.

Genres: Historical, Historical Fiction, Fiction

368 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Kathryn Heyman is the author of six novels including the forthcoming Storm and Grace (Allen and Unwin, Feb 2017), described by British writer Jill Dawson as "Dark, sexy, haunting...timely and important.." Her earlier works are The Breaking ( Orion, London, 1997), Keep Your Hands on the Wheel (Orion, 1999), The Accomplice (Hodder, London, 2003), Captain Starlight's Apprentice (Hodder, 2006) and Floodline (Allen and Unwin, 2013). She is also a playwright for theatre and radio and director of the Australian Writers Mentoring Program. Her short stories have appeared in a number of collections and also on radio. Heyman's writing has been compared with that of Joseph Conrad, Angela Carter, Peter Carey and Kate Grenville.

Kathryn's first novel, The Breaking was shortlisted for the Stakis Award for the Scottish Writer of the Year and longlisted for the Orange Prize. Other awards include an Arts Council of England Writers Award, the Wingate and the Southern Arts Awards, and nominations for the Edinburgh Fringe Critics’ Awards, the Kibble Prize, and the West Australian Premier’s Book Awards.

Kathryn Heyman’s several plays for BBC radio include Far Country and Moonlite’s Boy , inspired by the life of bushranger Captain Moonlite. Two of her novels have been adapted for BBC radio: Keep Your Hands on the Wheel as a play and ,Captain Starlight’s Apprentice as a five part dramatic serial.

Reviews

[Stacie Dore · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not at all what I expected and I have given myself some time and actually gone off and done a whole bunch of research before writing this.

The story is that of a 17th century shipwreck. Kind of. We follow Judith a young women who travels with her very religious family. Meeting this family I felt like I was meeting The Poisonwood
Bible family all over again, a novel that I seriously disliked. I think if you liked that book you would probably like this one.

Basically the ship crashes and the passengers and crew are stranded on an island. What follows is a frustratingly gruesome adult Lord of the Flies. I feel like there actually could have been an important message in the there somewhere but so much space was given to blood and less to character development that I never truly understood what motivated the characters. I didn't care about the deaths, just felt sick to my stomach. If you have issues with violence (or violence specifically directed at children) then do not read this book.

[Rebecca Dumont · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought this book a while ago, and at that time I was really into reading Historical Fictions. So after reading the back of the book I thought that this was going to be great. But again I was wrong. I judge the book by its cover, and not in the way people mean when they say it either. Firstly, it took forever for the story to start. I was pushing myself to read and become engaged in it for the first hundred pages or so. Now this is an, what I would call, average size book. So I was close to half way through before I really started to be interested in what was happening. The second thing was that, in the beginning, she keeps of jumping from the past to the future without any explanation. So you are left floundering to figure out at what time the story is taken place. This just contributed to the hardship it was to get into the book. I wanted the main character to have a stronger presence but I did not feel it. I felt that she was a meek character, and although she made it through the hardships in the story, she didn't become a stronger person or really grow. She stayed the same. I was disappointed in this book, and did have to force myself to read it to the end. So it is getting 1 out of 5 stars.

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Manchmal schreibt das Leben die besten Geschichten, auch wenn ich nicht nachvollziehen kann, wie nah das Buch der Realität kommt. An "Der Herr der Fliegen" habe ich auch denken müssen, allerdings sind die Charaktere in "The accomplice" viel skrupelloser.


Ich habe beim Lesen zwischen Verständnis für die Passivität der Gestrandeten und Unverständnis geschwankt. Ich konnte verstehen, dass sie nicht die Kraft zum Widerstand hatten, sondern lieber den Kopf einzogen und hofften, dass das Unglück an ihnen vorüberzieht. Auf der anderen Seite konnte ich nicht verstehen, warum man sich nicht zusammengeschlossen und gewehrt hat. Vielleicht hat ihnen der Führer gefehlt. Das hätte Judiths Vater sein können, weil die Menschen zu ihm aufgesehen haben. Aber er war nicht stark genug. Und diejenigen, die stark genug gewesen wären, sind direkt ausgeschaltet worden. So ist es immer leichter, von außen zu überlegen, was man gemacht hätte.

Wie man mit dieser Schuld weiterleben kann, kann ich mir nicht einmal ansatzweise vorstellen. Ob die Überlebenden jemals die Erinnerungen losgeworden sind?

"The accomplice" zeigt deutlich, wie hilflos Menschen in Ausnahmesituationen sind. Ich habe beim Lesen überlegt, was ich getan hätte und muss sagen, dass ich keine Antwort gefunden habe.

[Kas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an amazing book. The tension is gripping, the story unpredictable (despite it's basis in history), and I didn't want to leave Judith alone for a minute. I needed to know what would happen.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I cannot believe what we do to save our own flesh. This is the lord’s way?”...”I wish the lord would take me, yet I cannot help my longing for life”

3 3/4 stars. Interesting book that uses the real(surreal) Batavia shipwreck as it’s backdrop. The main character is Judika(Judith), a real life survivor of the shipwreck. She narrates her thoughts, experiences and observations (this part is fiction though it likely isn’t far from a general truth) through the traumatic sailing/shipwreck experience. You’ll be introduced to a historically accurate list of characters that interweave the story (though words attributed to them will be mostly fiction)

I enjoyed the book. Historical fact was definitely used (though not completely). I think the author aptly puts herself in real life character Judika’s place — filling in the historically unknown with ‘this is how she would have thought, spoke, acted, reacted etc’.
One knock: a bit too much emphasis on the unsanitary and unhygienic (certain sexual acts under these conditions?).

A couple of suggestions: before reading this book try reading a non fiction on the Batavia shipwreck. This will allow you to follow the events and discern the fiction from the non fiction. Next,
the story contains some instances of strong graphic violence. It’s not a book for those adverse to reading stories containing strong violence and human suffering.
.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes a past stays buried to make it possible to live in the present. Such is the nature of the repressed memories of Judith Bastiaansz. The events in this novel are based on a true event: a shipwreck of a Dutch vessel in 1629.

The novel opens (page 16) with just a hint of what is to come:
"and perhaps you like to hear this story to tell yourself this… that if you had been there, you would have kept your kindness, kept your faith, kept your hope alive. That you would not be silent, that you would be strong, resistant. ... but I was there, and I know that not every victim is innocent."

The quiet telling of this story makes it possible to read about the unspeakable acts committed by greedy, ruthless men when all order has been lost to anarchy, and power, treachery, and bloodlust become the New Order. I could almost picture Judith speaking: her face in profile, her voice a monotone, eyes fixated on the horizon but seeing nothing. She would be barely breathing as she quietly recalls what happened so many years ago, the year she turned eighteen.

This story is another example of how humans never seem to learn from history. How many times in years since 1629 have eyes been averted and consciences closed to avoid drawing attention to oneself, to survive. Nazi Germany, Uganda, Cambodia…maybe even today (2018) in the U.S. Will our natures ever evolve ?

[Jean Sharp · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a re-read.
A fascinating story based on the true story of the Batavia, a dutch ship which set off from Holland bound for Java, but never got there.
It was wrecked due to the inattention of the crew, despite the crow's nest saying that a band of surf had been sighted.
The horrors of the aftermath of the wreck are imagined, and the story is moving and compelling.
My only quibble is the narrator also gives us insights into her later life, so we know that she survived the events. (Although that might have made the book harder to continue with, from the reader's point of view.)

[Mike Fitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's about a 17th century shipwreck and what happens to the passengers and crew, focusing on one family in particular.
It did a good job of depicting life aboard a sailing vessel in those day and how long and perilous a trip could be. I thought way too much of the book was spent on this, over half the book.
The action sure picked up after the shipwreck. It reminded me of , "Lord of the Flies".

[Dianne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Harrowing. Probably needs a trigger warning. I don't want to know which bits are based on fact...I'm honestly scared to find out.
I suppose if true, then the story did need to be told, but so bleakly?

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based on the true story of those on the Dutch ship Batavia which was wrecked on islands west of Australia. Told through the narration of Judith, a young woman who does survive. An adult Lord of the Flies. Beautifully written but not a pleasant read.

[SHR · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

[Jim Mcfarlane]

I was already familiar with the story of Batavia. On its maiden voyage, this East India Company ship (huge for its time with passengers and crew of 341) sailed from Texel near Amsterdam on 27 Oct 1628 and wrecked on 4 Jun 1629 on the west coast of Australia. Then savage events unfolded. Commander Pelseart's diary was the source of the book The Unfortunate Voyage of the Ship Batavia published in 1647. In my novel also inspired by actual events, I use nightmares from my character Penelope reading this 1647 book just before her 1648 West India Company voyage from Amsterdam to New Amsterdam as a foreshadowing of her shipwreck and attack by Indians.

This book is a strange way to write historical fiction. I find the writing "pretty" but almost devoid of historical detail, for example, "Sailors dash about, I can scarcely fathom their actions" and "...our living quarters are small and dark..." There is no date, not month, year or century. The geography is equally vague with the Cape of Good Hope being the only easily recognizable landmark. Their destination of Batavia (now Jakarta, Indonesia) is mentioned once and afterwards is described as the warm, green island. Sorry, but I've gotten a better sense of time and place from fantasy novels. And yet the story follows the historical events.

The narrator, Judith, was eighteen when this disaster happened but tells the story decades later. The first half of the novel is a mixture of survivor's guilt, observations on fellow passengers and the random, often confusing thoughts of a young girl falling in love. In the second half (after the shipwreck) Judith gradually shifts from selfish thoughts to serious thoughts and finally ends with a simple narration of events that is almost devoid of emotion. Apparently the author's purpose was to follow Judith's psychological trauma and her loss of emotion in order to maintain her sanity.

I cannot rate this book because I was not the intended audience.

[Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Accomplice tells the the story of Judith Bastiaansz, a survivor of the sinking of The Batavia in the 1600's. Judith tells the story from the perspective of time -she's an older woman, waiting for her grandchild to be born, and trying to find some sort of peace. By placing the story after the events of the mutiny, the writer makes the novel about more than shipwreck, and much more than a page-turning tale of adventure. The novel becomes about what people do to survive, and how they carry on after tragedy. It raises contemporary issues: how will the survivors of war and terrorism live with decisions they make? Judith labours under a feeling of guilt, for events which she ultimately realises are not her doing. The book forces the reader to consider their own lives and actions, and the ways in which we are all connected. It's terribly sad, and frightening, but also, in the end, hopeful and optimistic. I couldn't put this book down, and was astonished by some of the beautiful images. This is a brilliant take on the Batavia story.

[Toni Kely-Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having read Peter Fitzsimmons, Batavia last year, I was keen to read this fictionalised account of Judith Bastiaansz, especially given she was the survivor I felt the most heartbreak and sympathy for. The story is about the ship-wreck off the western coast of Australia and the terrible aftermath of the sinking of a Dutch ship called Batavia in the 1600's - a Lord of the Flies tale that was sadly true with the murder and terrorising of approx. 100 men, women and children who survived the initial wreck. This novel is from Judith's perspective, looking back on that time as an older woman. At times I found it difficult to connect with Judith and without Peter Fitzsimmons fantastic non-fiction account, I may not have finished it.

[Sorcha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fictionalised account of an apparently true story, of the sinking of a Dutch ship on the way to Australia/New Zealand and the survival of some of the passengers and crew.

It is a short but difficult to read book and I did struggle. It's not necessarily the fault of the book, but it is the harrowing tale of people marooned on isolated islands with few natural resources, little chance of rescue and complicity in the decisions until people realise it's too late.

[Ali Barrah]

A true account of a ship wreck off the west coast of Australia in the seventeenth centuray and of the guilt one of the surviving passengers, Judith Bastiaansz, must have felt towards the shocking and extraordinary events that took place.
Throughout the ages men have been ruthless in their desire to control others and Kathryn Heyman's portryal of Conraat is well told.

[Kate MacKinnon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this last year sometime, so the details are foggy.
However, I remember it being a well done story if not a bit -lord of the Flies...It was dark & grim at times but given the plot one would expect that. It was slow to start but worth the read.

[Rue Baldry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not particularly readable. The attempt to replicate the seventeenth century language made this feel stilted. The events in it are shocking, but there seems to be little plot or structure beyond a straight retelling of a series of atrocities.

[Maryanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simply written but harrowing tale of wanton slaughter and horror. Not my cup of tea.

[KtotheC · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were a few stand out scenes but I felt like the writer was capable of even more for the most part.

[Lusine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A heartbreaking novel