--- title: "The Last Viracocha: Douglas Schofield Writes About Women Who Do Not Wait to Be Rescued" description: Across six novels, Douglas Schofield has built his career around women who drive the story. His latest, The Last Viracocha, is no exception. author: Dr Marina Nani (Editor-in-Chief) date: 2026-02-18T17:51:31.000Z updated: 2026-06-02T10:22:31.639Z canonical: https://richwoman.co/article/the-last-viracocha-douglas-schofield-writes-about-women-who-do-not-wait-to-be-rescued image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/douglas-schofield-author.webp categories: Inspiration content_type: Book Review region: Canada publication: Rich Woman Magazine about: - type: Person name: Douglas Schofield description: Douglas Schofield is a Canadian-born author and retired lawyer who spent over thirty years living and working in British Columbia, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. He is the author of six novels — including Time of Departure, Storm Rising and Killing Pace, published by St. Martin's Press, an imprint of Macmillan, and Succession, released earlier by a British publishing house. His work has attracted Hollywood interest, with a former Paramount Pictures chairman and Academy president involved in adaptation discussions. His latest novel, The Last Viracocha, is available now. url: https://douglasschofield.com/ --- ## **The Last Viracocha By Douglas Schofield** A young Harvard archaeologist accepts a dream expedition to newly uncovered Mayan ruins in Belize. What she finds pulls her from Central America to the high Andes of Peru, where ancient Incan prophecy collides with environmental collapse, a rogue military unit on her trail and shocking revelations about her own ancestry. ### Book: The Last Viracocha By Douglas Schofield A young Harvard archaeologist accepts a dream expedition to newly uncovered Mayan ruins in Central America, only to find herself drawn into a dangerous quest involving the lost mythology of the Viracocha. [Amazon](https://amzn.to/4rkszZj) Douglas Schofield once did something most people never think to do. He counted the women on his bookshelf. Out of 124 history books, 28 were written by women. Only 14 focused on female figures or themes. Of those written by men, not a single one centred a woman’s story. It was the kind of quiet realisation that changes how you see everything afterwards — not unlike the shift explored in [how a woman’s perspective can reshape human history](https://richwoman.co/article/the-difference-a-woman-s-perspective-can-make-in-human-history). For Schofield, it changed how he writes. Across six novels, the Canadian-born author (who spent over three decades practising law in Canada, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands and is now retired) has built his career around women who drive the story. Not women who exist to support a male lead. Not women written as men with different pronouns. Women who feel real because they are written with genuine curiosity about how they think, what they fear and what makes them brave in ways that do not look like bravery in films. ## The heroines who came first It started with Claire Talbot in [*Time of Departure*](https://douglasschofield.com/books/time-of-departure/), a Florida prosecutor who inherits a decades-old missing persons case. Then came Lucy Hendricks in *Storm Rising*, a mother protecting her son while Hurricane Sandy bears down on their hometown. Laura Pace followed in *Killing Pace*, another woman navigating danger with nothing but her own resourcefulness. When an early editor questioned whether a male author could write credible heroines, Schofield’s editor at Macmillan disagreed. Three novels with St. Martin’s Press later, the question answered itself. As he [puts it](https://douglasschofield.com/writings/douglas-schofield-reveals-write-women/): ‘Why not a formidable woman? After all, she has an extra advantage: she is unexpected.’ ## Eve Barcelon and the lost mythology of the Andes His sixth novel, *The Last Viracocha*, introduces someone different again. Eve Barcelon is a young archaeologist who earned her doctorate and a Harvard assistant professorship by her early twenties. She is brilliant and disciplined, shaped by a childhood with an absent father and a mother who taught her to channel pain into purpose. When the philanthropic Cetus Foundation offers Eve the chance to lead an expedition to newly uncovered Mayan ruins in Belize, she sees a career-defining opportunity. What she gets is something far stranger and far more dangerous — a journey stretching from Central America to the high Andes of Peru, where the ancient Incan legend of the Viracocha (creators said to have emerged from Lake Titicaca during a time of darkness, teaching people how to live sustainably before vanishing westward) collides with very modern crises. Environmental collapse. Geopolitical conflict. The question of whether ancient wisdom might hold something we have forgotten. The mythology is fascinating on its own, but what makes the novel feel different is that Schofield never lets the ideas overshadow the person at the centre. Eve is not a vessel for a theme. She is someone you root for because you understand what drives her, where her blind spots are and why she keeps going when sensible people would stop. ## From page to screen Two of Schofield’s earlier works have already attracted serious attention from Hollywood. A former Paramount Pictures chairman and Academy president has been involved in discussions around adaptations. His novel *Succession* evolved into a screenplay titled *Falling Reign*. Whether *The Last Viracocha* follows that path remains to be seen, but with 98 per cent five-star ratings on Amazon and a protagonist who feels built for the screen, the interest would not be surprising. ## Why it matters for the stories we tell There is something worth noticing in what [Schofield does](https://douglasschofield.com/writings/douglas-schofield-reveals-write-women/). He looked at his bookshelf, noticed who was missing and decided to do something about it. Not with grand statements, but by writing women you actually recognise — women who are complicated, capable and occasionally wrong. Women who carry the story rather than decorate it. In a world still catching up to the idea that [female-led narratives](https://richwoman.co/article/nhs-midwife-karen-lawrence-debut-novel-the-last-midwife) are not a niche but the norm, his work is a quiet reminder that the best stories have always been here. Someone just needed to write them down. --- **About Douglas Schofield** Douglas Schofield is a Canadian-born author and retired lawyer who spent over thirty years living and working in British Columbia, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. He is the author of six novels — including Time of Departure, Storm Rising and Killing Pace, published by St. Martin's Press, an imprint of Macmillan, and Succession, released earlier by a British publishing house. His work has attracted Hollywood interest, with a former Paramount Pictures chairman and Academy president involved in adaptation discussions. His latest novel, The Last Viracocha, is available now. [Website](https://douglasschofield.com/) ## In case you were wondering… **Q: Can male authors write convincing female characters?** They can, but it takes more than good intentions. The best examples tend to come from writers who treat their female characters as people first — with their own goals, flaws and logic — rather than as foils or love interests. Douglas Schofield has spoken about studying real historical women (Ada Lovelace, Krystyna Skarbek, Iris Origo) as models for his heroines, grounding them in the kind of courage and intelligence that real women have shown throughout history. The key seems to be curiosity about how women actually experience the world, not assumptions about how they should. **Q: Who were the Viracocha in Andean mythology?** In Incan mythology, the Viracocha were revered as the creators of civilisation. According to the legends, they rose from Lake Titicaca during a time of darkness, bringing light and teaching people how to live sustainably — agriculture, craftsmanship, community. They were described as tall, pale figures who eventually disappeared into the western sky. The prophecy held that they would return in a time of great trouble. Douglas Schofield uses this mythology as the foundation of The Last Viracocha, weaving it into a modern thriller about environmental collapse and humanity’s survival. **Q: What makes a good archaeological thriller?** The best ones balance real science and history with genuine suspense. They respect the subject matter enough to make readers feel they are learning something, without turning into a lecture. Think of it as the difference between a museum tour and an adventure — the good ones give you both. Schofield’s work falls into this tradition, following in the footsteps of writers who blend mythology, real locations and high-stakes plots while keeping a human story at the centre.