Amazon Review
At the close of the 17th century, young Roderick Mackenzie embarks upon an odyssey that will take him "half-way across the world and over its insane edge". His ship, The Rising Sun, is part of a flotilla, carrying colonists to the gulf of Darien, with the aim of staking Scotland's claim to the untold riches of the New World. Few could have higher hopes for the project than the voyage's chronicler Roderick, who has--through fortune and cunning--escaped the drudgery of life as an Edinburgh clerk and landed the position of Superintendent of Cargoes. With dry wit and diplomatic charm, Roderick dodges the vicious power struggles between the expedition's various factions, only to founder as he reaches dry land. As the unforgiving jungle claims the lives and hopes of men all around him, Roderick's journey becomes an inward quest for courage and humanity.

Many works of historical fiction find themselves ship-wrecked on the rocks of detail, becoming either inaccurate or obsessive. Mr Galbraith, however, knows how to spin a tale that is as entertaining as it is convincing. In Roderick--and through his epic adventures--you are treated to a vivid study of man in the struggle for survival, and left as breathless as if you had taken part. -- Matthew Baylis