Chaudiere Falls by David Mulholland
2016, Burnstown Publishing House, 655 pages, $35.00
Dramatised History
This is a very true-to-history retelling of founding of Ottawa from the arrival of Philemon Wright in 1800, to the laying of the foundations of the Parliament Buildings a half century later. Mulholand meticulously researched this and kept to the historical record to the point that he didn’t even classify the book as historical fiction, but as “Dramatised History”.
I really liked the portrayals of the historical characters, particularly Ruggles Wright and Braddish Billings. This book was incredibly aware of the historical context in which the characters moved, and the gradual movement of history, rather than a list of great events just appearing. This novel had a level of historian’s craftsmanship that I really appreciated. It even included reference to primary resources such as newspapers and journals, many of which still available.
Historical fiction is always a balance between getting the history right and telling a good story, and we can all think of several quick examples of Hollywood producing “history” that might as well have taken place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, for the misrepresentations of history. This book regrettably errs on the opposite end of the spectrum. Its attention to detail is great, but if the city of Ottawa is a character and setting, there really isn’t a plot, a central protagonist, or a recurring antagonist. It’s more of a series of vignettes and slices-of-life told in the setting. The fictional characters and their plots are shoe-horned into the pages to try to alleviate this, but it didn’t really work as a novel per se.
I’m inclined to give leeway to the lack of a novel structure based on his genre recasting from historical fiction to dramatised history, but at north of 650 pages, it’s hard to read for being midway between the genres of fiction and history. I respect the work that went into this, but it’s not engaging as a work of fiction, and not detailed enough to be a work of historiography.
★★★☆☆
