|
|
The Rising Sun
by Douglas Galbraith
Book #192 - Price $ US
11.95
Buy Now buttons
for Google Checkout have 3 options (US, Canada & International). Shipping charges are included in
the price.
PayPal includes shipping for USA only. Canada and International
buyers will be sent an invoice for additional shipping charges or you can
email me and I will send you an electronic invoice for the entire amount.
Media or Priority Mail is available for Us Orders. Shipping for Canada &
International is sent by Canada Post Express Post or Expedited International. Any Questions, please email me.
Multiple book purchases is available via the new Google Checkout Cart.
Pay by credit card using Google
Checkout.
Hardcover book is in new condition, unread, dust
jacket in like new condition. Dust jacket shows no signs of wear on top and
bottom of spine edges. Inside of book pages are crisp and clean. Price stamp
from bookstore on front of dust jacket. Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press.
352 pages long. Size: 9 by 6 x 1 ½. ISBN 087113781X. 2001 edition.
Additional pictures of condition are always available.
BOOK DESCRIPTION:
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.
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.
A photo gallery of pictures from this book is shown below. Any
questions, please email me at
aldergrove@ppowner.com
   
This site was last updated
05/17/09
|
