The Rising Sun: A Novel [Paperback]

Douglas Galbraith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 9, 2002

Now in paperback, Douglas Galbraith's The Rising Sun is an extraordinary tour de force of historical fiction in the tradition of Caleb Carr's The Alienist and David Liss's A Conspiracy of Paper. A widespread critical favorite in hardcover, it was hailed by Kirkus Reviews as one of the best novels of the past decade, and established its author as a major new talent. In 1698, five vessels led by the flagship Rising Sun embarked on a perilous voyage for the northern coast of what is now Panama, where passengers intended to found a colony at Darien. With them went the hopes and fortunes of the nation of Scotland, which sought to build an overseas empire so that it could at last compete on the world stage with its rival, England. The Rising Sun is the story of this mission and its tragic outcome, as recorded by the ship's superintendent of cargoes, Roderick Mackenzie. A young man of promise and ambition, Mackenzie is quickly caught up in the intrigues of his fellow colonists -- rivalries that will prove overwhelming as nationalist optimism gives way to the brutal realities of their hardscrabble life and rain, mud slides, and disease assault the Scottish encampment. A dramatic, pitch-perfect story of the adventures and betrayals of men under duress in a strange, exotic land, The Rising Sun establishes Douglas Galbraith as a writer of uncommon resonance and skill. "Galbraith's powers of description are immense ... it succeeds absolutely." -- Geoff Nicholson, The New York Times Book Review "The writing throughout is beautifully wrought.... ...the tale unfolds like a vast exotic panorama demanding further examination ... fascinating." -- Bernadette Murphy, Los Angeles Times "[A] remarkable novelistic debut." -- Richard Bernstein, The New York Times

Editorial Reviews

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.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (January 9, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802138640
• ISBN-13: 978-0802138644
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,436,033 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An extraordinary literary accomplishment, March 25, 2001

By 

John McNulty (STATEN ISLAND, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rising Sun: A Novel (Hardcover)

It is hard to believe that this is Mr Galbreath's 1st novel. The style is often reminiscient of Dickens, and his prose is quite successful at evoking the flavor of 1698 Scotland and the physical travails of life in the Isthmus of Panama. While the book is the story of some 2000 Scots who set off to establish a trading colony, the handful of characters central to the plot are developed with power and precision. This is a book well worth reading, and one that you will remember for years to come.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Rising sun, December 21, 2004

By 

Glenn Fuller "Glenn Fuller" (Ventura, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rising Sun: A Novel (Paperback)

I saw this book and picked it up on a whim. I cannot put my finger on exactly what attracted me to the book, however, I am extremely glad that I bought it and stayed with the story through the first 50 or so difficult pages.

The book chronicles the disastrous Darien Scheme (which I confess I had never heard of prior to purchasing the book), and its political and social repercussions for the nation of Scotland. The book is narrated by an ambitious young man named Roderick Mackenzie who comes to Edinburgh the callow second son of country gentry forced to seek his fortune in commerce. Our narrator quickly learns the shady aspects of business through his amoral and manipulative employer, Colquhoun, and the ways of drunken debauchery and women (for a price) with his fellow young fellow lodgers (who are careful to be seen attending church after a long night enjoying the favors of the ladies of ill repute at the Widow Gilbert's house).

As superintendent cargos Mackenzie relates his perspective of the expedition though his diary. The journey over the Atlantic and late seventeenth century Edinburgh are described in breathtaking detail. The struggles (physical, moral and spiritual) of the colony are set out with heart wrenching precision, as the idealistic colonists wage a forlorn multi-front war with the Spanish military, English greed, tropical disease, the jungle, the torrential rains and, ultimately, themselves.

It would be easy to describe this book as a male-oriented "adventure" novel (which many reviewers have) or as a detailed and lively "historical fiction." Both characterizations (as well as others that would be equally appropriate) are correct, but fail to give this astonishing work its full due. Ultimately The Rising Sun is a novel about idealism, opportunism and aspiration. Mackenzie, like all of the Darien colonists to one extent or another, wants to be part of something bigger than himself. As the self proclaimed witness to these great events, he sees first-hand the hopes of a nation sore, the petty intrigues of the colony as amid the death and squalor of the colony the delusional Patterson and vainglorious Drummon squabble over utilization of the colony's scare resources for the construction of their ultimately worthless prized projects (the "road" to the pacific and a useless fort, respectively), and the manipulations of the "great men" who, knowing that the colony was doomed to utter failure by the machinations of England, sold their shares in the Company of Scotland.

For some reason, I had a difficult time initially dealing with the author's writing style for the first 50 or so pages, but from that point on the prose flowed very well. I cannot recommend this book highly enough, and I eagerly await the next title to be released by this author in the United States.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Company of Scotland, December 6, 2002

By 

Frank J. Konopka (Shamokin, PA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

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.