This Door of the Seas
Darkland Tales
Written by Val McDermid , Jo Sharp
£8.99
- Hardback
- E-Book
Reviews
A riveting short novel... an atmospheric read about a forgotten moment in history
The Sunday Times
Unpicks many of the myths about the Darien venture being a bumbling attempt from Scotland to stand on its own two feet . . . as the creeping sensation of betrayal by the English and Scottish landed gentry takes over, outrage seems to come freely to the book's modern writers
The Guardian
Brilliantly researched and written by life partners McDermid and Sharp, the duo tell the enthralling tale in letters
Daily Mail
McDermid and Sharp’s novella is as well-researched as it is imagined. Put the two together and the door of history starts to creak open
The Scotsman
This Door of the Seas is a fantastic novel that brings to life a fascinating period of Scottish history that still has a bearing on Scotland today. Horrifying, salutary and compelling
Zoe Venditozzi, author of How to Kill A Witch
As the story unfolds, you realise the horror of the Darien scheme, hardly mentioned in received history . . . a powerful story of creeping betrayal
Sara Sheridan
An immersive tale of betrayal and injustice that reverberates with a howl of anguish three centuries old
Chris Brookmyre
This Door Of The Seas has a sense of wonder that wouldn’t be out of place in Gulliver’s Travels... an enriching and impressive retelling of a crucial moment that would change Scotland’s future
The List
A beautifully told, gripping romp through the choppy waters of Scotland’s darkest history
Doug Johnstone
A powerfully clear account of the doomed Scottish adventure in Darien . . . Its factual-emotional punch is driven by prose that holds both fact and heart firmly together, no mean feat. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the colonial history of Scotland and the machinations surrounding the act of union
Paterson Joseph, actor and author of the award-winning The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho
McDermid and Sharp skilfully flesh out how and why the expedition fails
Scottish Field
‘You’ve made the story accessible to people who maybe just know the name of it [the Darien Venture] or a little about it. It’s fascinating because you have done it in such a personal way… This Door of the Seas is a historical novella, but it's a love story as well. The book is wonderful
Central FM
‘A pacy narrative written in propulsive epistolary form’
Sunday Post
A fascinating glimpse of a pivotal and tragic episode in Scottish history, told with brio and underpinned by its solid historical foundations. There are lessons here for Scotland's present and future
Andrew Taylor, award winning author of The American Boy, The Roth Trilogy
Shed[s] light on something pivotal and incredibly important that shaped Scotland’s destiny along with the whole of the British Isles... Something you never knew you’d care about, find fascinating and enjoy thoroughly
Chiswick Calendar
Watching the tragedy unfold is grimly fascinating, and at times it can slip one’s mind that this extensively-researched novella isn’t genuine eyewitness testimony... McDermid and Sharp’s book stands as a worthy, compassionate memorial to the hundreds who lost their lives pursuing a hopeless dream
The Herald
About the Book
A visceral historical novel retelling the story of Scotland’s only colony, from high hopes that united the country to a failure that bankrupted a nation.
The Darien Venture was the singular event at the end of the seventeenth century that fundamentally altered Scotland’s future. It took place on the other side of the world, amid the jungle-coastline at the junction between the continents of North and South America. 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 to trace the story of Scotland’s only trading colony, which turned from a dream of prosperity to a nightmare that bankrupted an already impoverished nation and propelled it towards political union with England.
Written as a series of letters home from expedition scientist Dr James Wallace to his wife Eliza and Sir Robert Sibbald, the first Geographer Royal, this epistolary tale offers a devastating account of the forces that doomed the endeavour and completely changed the history of the British Isles in the process.
'A powerfully clear account . . . Highly recommended for anyone interested in the colonial history of Scotland' – Paterson Joseph, actor and author of the award-winning The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho
The Authors
Val McDermid
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
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.
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