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Duel
Author David Mulholland claims to have uncovered a manuscript written by an obsessive blacksmith who sheds new light on events that led to the fatal duel between law students Robert Lyon and John Wilson on June 13, 1833, in Perth, Upper Canada. The day before the duel, Lyon agreed to apologize for assaulting Wilson if the latter would acknowledge that a letter he had written was not intended to denigrate Lyon s character. But on the morning of the duel, Lyon reneged on his promise. Why? The answer lies within. But is the blacksmith s passionate and dramatic narrative fact or fiction? You, the reader, will have to decide.
140 pages, Perfect Paperback
First published February 18, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 21, 2010
Duel:
A Novel of Dramatized History
By David Mulholland
General Store Publishing House
ISBN: 9781897508398
130 Pages
When acts of violence occur, who is at fault? Is it just the individuals actually involved? Or is it the family, the community, or the society in which the individuals lived? Or, could the fault have been lies, deception and betrayal by someone who acted purely on his own self-interest?
David Mulholland in his novel, Duel, presents a dramatization of background and events leading up to the Duel Between Robert Lyon and John Wilson on June 13, 1833. His beautiful cover shares a picture of the actual dueling pistols!
In many ways dueling might be considered the smallest version of a war. It was once considered a respectable means of settling disputes among Gentlemen. Indeed history dwells most on those fought between gentlemen, referring to the same type of action in the lower classes as "merely a vulgar shootout between two Scallywags." (p. 41)
One major difference with a duel was that it almost always was based on one thing-honor-or more clearly, the perceived offense that brought dishonor to another gentleman! Thus only disagreements between peers were accepted as a reason to "challenge" the other.
Little was known as to why these young men who had been relatively close friends actually proceeded to that duel. There had been many who had tried to stop it and some even said that one of the seconds was the main instigator! That is, until during his research of the event, David Mulholland found a descendent of the town's blacksmith who had inherited a lengthy report that had been prepared at the request of a professor of moral and mental philosophy at Queen's College. The manuscript was said to be 126 years old, written 50 years after this fatal affair when Robert Lyon was shot.
If this was indeed written by the blacksmith's son, readers may immediately wonder why Professor Watson chose to contact this individual as opposed to one of the upper class, or had he learned something about the event and was himself conducting his own investigation? Surely what he discovered was not what he had anticipated!
David Mulholland successfully takes readers to Perth, Upper Canada, during the year 1833 when, "within minutes, Robert Lyon was dead." (p. 3) The small town was a perfect setting you might say. Historians will want to study the old manuscript against other documents of the era. But in the end, will it really explain how two friends faced each other with dueling pistols, fully expecting only one to walk away?
Duel forces all of us to ponder the cost of honor. Mulholland provides an excellent novel with a significantly picturesque drama in which to explore that potential loss...
G. A. Bixler
A Novel of Dramatized History
By David Mulholland
General Store Publishing House
ISBN: 9781897508398
130 Pages
When acts of violence occur, who is at fault? Is it just the individuals actually involved? Or is it the family, the community, or the society in which the individuals lived? Or, could the fault have been lies, deception and betrayal by someone who acted purely on his own self-interest?
David Mulholland in his novel, Duel, presents a dramatization of background and events leading up to the Duel Between Robert Lyon and John Wilson on June 13, 1833. His beautiful cover shares a picture of the actual dueling pistols!
In many ways dueling might be considered the smallest version of a war. It was once considered a respectable means of settling disputes among Gentlemen. Indeed history dwells most on those fought between gentlemen, referring to the same type of action in the lower classes as "merely a vulgar shootout between two Scallywags." (p. 41)
One major difference with a duel was that it almost always was based on one thing-honor-or more clearly, the perceived offense that brought dishonor to another gentleman! Thus only disagreements between peers were accepted as a reason to "challenge" the other.
Little was known as to why these young men who had been relatively close friends actually proceeded to that duel. There had been many who had tried to stop it and some even said that one of the seconds was the main instigator! That is, until during his research of the event, David Mulholland found a descendent of the town's blacksmith who had inherited a lengthy report that had been prepared at the request of a professor of moral and mental philosophy at Queen's College. The manuscript was said to be 126 years old, written 50 years after this fatal affair when Robert Lyon was shot.
If this was indeed written by the blacksmith's son, readers may immediately wonder why Professor Watson chose to contact this individual as opposed to one of the upper class, or had he learned something about the event and was himself conducting his own investigation? Surely what he discovered was not what he had anticipated!
David Mulholland successfully takes readers to Perth, Upper Canada, during the year 1833 when, "within minutes, Robert Lyon was dead." (p. 3) The small town was a perfect setting you might say. Historians will want to study the old manuscript against other documents of the era. But in the end, will it really explain how two friends faced each other with dueling pistols, fully expecting only one to walk away?
Duel forces all of us to ponder the cost of honor. Mulholland provides an excellent novel with a significantly picturesque drama in which to explore that potential loss...
G. A. Bixler
October 16, 2017
Praise for DUEL – a novel of dramatized history
(Mulholland) “claims the account is real, and he doesn't sway from the concept. The book is chock full of little tidbits of historical facts . . . History, love, lust, intrigue¾this book has it all. The momentum builds to the very end . . .”
– the humm (monthly arts & entertainment tabloid)
“I highly recommend DUEL as a compelling work of historical fiction. Readers will gain an appreciation for the complexity of history, and how it is interpreted.”
– Write Field Services
“In addition to being an entertaining read, the book pulls on the event and the time period to breathe life into its characters. It gives familiar names in history a narrative voice, while also giving the reader a glimpse of life in Upper Canada, and Perth, in the early 1800s.”
– Perth Courier
“Fact, or not, it's an interesting peek at the political and social realities of the time through the lens of love, jealousy and greed.”
– Ottawa Citizen
(Mulholland) “claims the account is real, and he doesn't sway from the concept. The book is chock full of little tidbits of historical facts . . . History, love, lust, intrigue¾this book has it all. The momentum builds to the very end . . .”
– the humm (monthly arts & entertainment tabloid)
“I highly recommend DUEL as a compelling work of historical fiction. Readers will gain an appreciation for the complexity of history, and how it is interpreted.”
– Write Field Services
“In addition to being an entertaining read, the book pulls on the event and the time period to breathe life into its characters. It gives familiar names in history a narrative voice, while also giving the reader a glimpse of life in Upper Canada, and Perth, in the early 1800s.”
– Perth Courier
“Fact, or not, it's an interesting peek at the political and social realities of the time through the lens of love, jealousy and greed.”
– Ottawa Citizen
August 1, 2010
A very cool dramatization of the duel between Robert Lyon and John Wilson Perth in 1833. This historical novel/dramatization is a good yarn. A nice little he said/she said, truth/fiction, bio/fairy tale.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews