Táto séria skúma zložité interakcie medzi rôznymi kultúrami a tradicami v juhoamerickom prostredí. Prostredníctvom sugestívnych opisov a hlbokého psychologického vhľadu sa autor ponára do ľudskej túžby po spojení a vytváraní nových svetov. Príbehy sú presiaknuté metaforickým jazykom a skúmajú, ako predstavivosť môže prekonávať hranice identity a pôvodu. Je to cesta do srdca ľudskej kondície, kde sa stretáva realita s mýtom.
In a richly metaphorical style, the book sets out the themes Wilson continues to develop in his writing to this day: the ability of the imaginative consciousness to create worlds where disparate cultures and traditions are fused.Donne, an ambitious skipper, leads a multiracial crew up an unnamed river in the rainforest.
The Guyana Quartet is Wilson Harris's collection of novels comprising Palace of the Peacock, The Far Journey of Oudin, The Whole Armour and The Secret Ladder. In Palace of the Peacock, a tale of a doomed crew beating their way up-river through the jungles of Guyana, can be traced the poetic vision, themes and designs of Harris's subsequent work. It was described in "The Times" as displaying 'that staggering ebullience of language we have begun to recognize in West Indian writers'.