This Door of the Seas

Darien. The singular event at the end of the 17th century that fundamentally altered Scotland’s future. It took place on the other side of the world. And most of us know next to nothing about it.

Now it’s time to remedy that. Award-winning novelist Val McDermid and Geographer Royal for Scotland Jo Sharp unite in this revelatory novella that traces the story of Scotland’s only colony from high hopes that united the whole country to disastrous failure that bankrupted an already impoverished nation, and propelled it towards union with England.

Written as a series of letters home from colonist James Wallace, both to the first Geographer Royal, and to his wife, this epistolary novel reveals 17th century Scotland’s global ambitions, and tells a devastating story of the forces that destroyed the nation’s dreams.

About the Author

Val McDermid is a number one bestseller whose novels have been translated into more than forty languages, and have sold over nineteen million copies. She has won many awards, including the CWA Gold Dagger the LA Times Book of the Year Award and the Cartier Diamond Dagger Award for outstanding achievement. She writes full-time and divides her time between Edinburgh and East Neuk of Fife.

Jo Sharp is a Scottish geographer. She researches and writes on geopolitics and feminist geography. In April 2022 she became Geographer Royal for Scotland, the first woman to hold the title.