Soft Cover Edition.png
Soft Cover Edition.png

Behind the Door: Profiles of a Peninsula

$51.00 $60.00

Most visitors know the Door Peninsula by its villages, shorelines, and extraordinary light. Behind the Door: Profiles of a Peninsula looks beyond the familiar to reveal the people, histories, traditions, and working lives that have shaped this remarkable place.

Drawing on decades of experience as a published writer, photographer, and storyteller, Kevin O’Donnell spent more than seven years exploring the peninsula, listening to its people, and returning to the places where its stories continue to unfold.

Across 184 pages, more than 140 photographs are woven together with 29 original essays and poems. Working harbors, family farms, maritime history, artists, musicians, fishermen, shipyard workers, and generations of year-round residents form a richly layered portrait of Door County and the wider Door Peninsula—from tip to tail. The result is the peninsula’s most uncommon tapestry, with flavors as delicious as a perfectly muddled brandy old fashioned.

“Meticulously crafted.”

“Behind the Door is a sensory invitation to fall in love with a place and its people.”
— Jill Bemis, Next Generation Indie Book Awards Judge

This is more than a collection of photographs. It is a lasting chronicle of a place shaped by water, weather, industry, creativity, tradition, and time.

Most visitors know the Door Peninsula by its villages, shorelines, and extraordinary light. Behind the Door: Profiles of a Peninsula looks beyond the familiar to reveal the people, histories, traditions, and working lives that have shaped this remarkable place.

Drawing on decades of experience as a published writer, photographer, and storyteller, Kevin O’Donnell spent more than seven years exploring the peninsula, listening to its people, and returning to the places where its stories continue to unfold.

Across 184 pages, more than 140 photographs are woven together with 29 original essays and poems. Working harbors, family farms, maritime history, artists, musicians, fishermen, shipyard workers, and generations of year-round residents form a richly layered portrait of Door County and the wider Door Peninsula—from tip to tail. The result is the peninsula’s most uncommon tapestry, with flavors as delicious as a perfectly muddled brandy old fashioned.

“Meticulously crafted.”

“Behind the Door is a sensory invitation to fall in love with a place and its people.”
— Jill Bemis, Next Generation Indie Book Awards Judge

This is more than a collection of photographs. It is a lasting chronicle of a place shaped by water, weather, industry, creativity, tradition, and time.

The Story Continues Beyond the Page

QR codes placed throughout the book connect individual stories to companion videos, taking readers from Kevin’s photographs and words to the places and moments behind them—on location with Kevin as each story comes to life.

Read the story. Scan the code. Watch it unfold.

Signed Softcover Edition — $60

Each softcover edition is personally signed by Kevin O’Donnell.

  • 184 pages

  • More than 140 photographs

  • 29 original essays and poems

  • Companion videos accessed through QR codes

  • Perfect-bound softcover production

  • Personally signed by the author

Created to be read slowly and revisited often, Behind the Door is a meaningful gift, an enduring keepsake, and an invitation to experience the peninsula beyond the places most visitors ever see.

National and International Recognition

  • 2025 INDIE Winner — Best Regional Book, Non-Fiction, Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group (USA)

  • 2025 IPPY Gold Medal — Cover Design, Independent Publishers Award (International)

  • 2025 IPPY Bronze Medal — Best Regional Book, Non-Fiction, Independent Publishers Award (International)

  • 2025 INDIE Finalist — Best Overall Design, Non-Fiction, Next Generation Book Awards (USA)

  • 2026 Guttenburg Prize — Best Soft Cover: Print Quality and Perfect-Binding Production, Great Lakes Graphic Association | GEA

The original casebound hardcover edition, which included a dust jacket, bookmark, and handwritten signature, is sold out.

The signed softcover edition is available now.

Behind the Door: Profiles of a Peninsula Behind the Door: Profiles of a Peninsula
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Behind the Door: Profiles of a Peninsula
$51.00 $60.00

Most visitors know the Door Peninsula by its villages, shorelines, and extraordinary light. Behind the Door: Profiles of a Peninsula looks beyond the familiar to reveal the people, histories, traditions, and working lives that have shaped this remarkable place.

Drawing on decades of experience as a published writer, photographer, and storyteller, Kevin O’Donnell spent more than seven years exploring the peninsula, listening to its people, and returning to the places where its stories continue to unfold.

Across 184 pages, more than 140 photographs are woven together with 29 original essays and poems. Working harbors, family farms, maritime history, artists, musicians, fishermen, shipyard workers, and generations of year-round residents form a richly layered portrait of Door County and the wider Door Peninsula—from tip to tail. The result is the peninsula’s most uncommon tapestry, with flavors as delicious as a perfectly muddled brandy old fashioned.

“Meticulously crafted.”

“Behind the Door is a sensory invitation to fall in love with a place and its people.”
— Jill Bemis, Next Generation Indie Book Awards Judge

This is more than a collection of photographs. It is a lasting chronicle of a place shaped by water, weather, industry, creativity, tradition, and time.