- Hardcover: 352 pages
- Publisher: Grove/Atlantic; 1st Edition edition (Feb 1 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 087113781X
- ISBN-13: 978-0871137814
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 15.5 x 3.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 885 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,279,793 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Evocative of the cadences of Herman Melville, Galbraith's impressive historical fiction debut charts the voyage of The Rising Sun and its four sister ships setting out from Scotland in 1698 intent on establishing a colony in Darien, later known as Panama. The colonists' mission, envisioned and orchestrated by William Paterson, founder of the Bank of England and trader of dubious background, is to secure a stronghold abroad, allowing the Scots to compete economically with the English, Spanish and Dutch. Ostensibly the journal recollections of the ship's superintendent of cargoes, Roderick Mackenzie, the meticulously detailed, briskly narrated tale proceeds beyond potentially dry recitations of the number of hammock hooks and cordage on board to often poetic reveries about the amount of sail needed to "blow a nation's hopes half way across the world and over its insane edge." This so-called Darien Scheme failed, but Galbraith brings it all to vivid, absorbing life--whether he is describing the ravages of yellow fever or the oozing thickets of jungle the men must clear with machetes. With a sure and often comic hand, Galbraith engages the reader with characters like the self-absorbed, opportunistic Paterson; Mackenzie's dull-witted assistant, Mister Shipp; or Mackenzie himself, a young man who matures quickly via hardship and hard living. Although details of weather and diet occasionally slow the pace, Galbraith redeems himself in moments of poignant humanity: "I drank his health, drank it again and then just drank." Some observations approach the Melvillean mode, as when the colonists, reduced for long periods to eating nothing but biscuits and green beef, feast on creamy whale blubber and a "gluttonous hush settles over the colony." Though long, this swift tale is never long-winded.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Roderick Mackenzie is a young superintendent of cargoes for a small fleet of exploratory ships sailing out of Edinburgh in 1698. While he is much more comfortable with numbers than he is with action and intrigue, his role in the expedition will quickly acquaint him with both of the latter. The ships set sail to establish a colony at Darien in Central America, and disaster strikes immediately as one craft is mysteriously lost within a fog bank. This misadventure strikes the tone for the rest of the voyage. The colonists find that they are as ill equipped to deal with each other as they are with the harsh environment and strange diseases of the New World. The colony is doomed from the start, but Roderick eventually thrives and finds fulfillment in the quest. With his debut, Galbraith presents a captivating view of Scotland's failed effort to become an empire, as well as a great adventure story. Eric Robbins
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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First Sentence
They say the mad hear demons calling to them, as clear as a man in the street calling their names. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
They say the mad hear demons calling to them, as clear as a man in the street calling their names. Read the first page
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Company of Scotland,
By
This review is from: The Rising Sun: A Novel (Paperback)
This historical fiction covers an incident in history about which I was completely ignorant: the attempt by folks from Scotland to establish a colony in Central America, specifically in Panama. It's a well-written tale, with sharp characterizations and quite descriptive passages. It's a tale that the reader knows ends in sorrow and tragedy, but he keeps on with it, because of the clarity of the writing that conveys the sense of initial optimism, and then the growing knowledge, even if unspoken, that the enterprise is doiomed to failure. The narrator is a likeable young man, and we follow his progress of ups and downs closely. The key to good writing is to make the reader interested in your main antagonist, and in this aspcet the author has succeeded admirably. Read the book if for nothing else than finding out about a little known aspect of world, and Scottish, history.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Historical Fiction,
By Jim Walsh (Texas) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Rising Sun: A Novel (Paperback)
I am almost finished with this book, and have enjoyed it a great deal. Well written, with a great eye for detail. The main character is likable but hardly perfect--very believable. Similar to Patrick O'Brian in setting, but without the nautical focus. And this was an incident in history I knew nothing about.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Historical Fiction,
By Jim Walsh (Texas) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Rising Sun: A Novel (Paperback)
I am almost finished with this book, and have enjoyed it a great deal. Well written, with a great eye for detail. The main character is likable but hardly perfect--very believable. Similar to Patrick O'Brian in setting, but without the nautical focus. And this was an incident in history I knew nothing about.
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