The Duel

Inês Viegas Oliveira

In a cold and distant country two men argue. They’ve been arguing for so long, they don’t remember why they started it in the first place. They gave up on finding a real solution, and to solve it once and for all they decide to fight a duel. Back to back, as in all duels, each men starts to count one hundred steps before turning around to shoot.

1, 2, 3, 4… There they go, moving apart. We follow one of them but at some point we ask ourselves: where is he going?

A book about fights, conflicts, wars, but mostly about peace.

Under this link you can watch a video in which the author and illustrator Inês Viegas Oliveira explains the techniques used to create the book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5cM0eyyJMI

Interview for PEN America:https://pen.org/ines-viegas-oliveira-rosa-churcher-clarke/

And on WBUR, https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2024/11/19/the-duel-ines-viegas-oliveira

Press voices

“Oliveira’s Klee-esque illustrations are stunning. Monochromatic early scenes metamorphose in successive palette shifts: saturated primary colors accented by neutrals for the cityscapes, then greens and ochers as the narrator treks through a village and a pasture. . . Subtly beautiful, with a message of peace.” – Kirkus Reviews

“When two friends at odds in a wintry place stand back to back and embark on their paces, one keeps walking, into the warm colorful, collegial spring of Oliveira’s dazzling picture book debut.” – New York Times Book Review

“At a time of war, it’s never too early to teach children to turn their backs on hatred.” Raquel Silva, Time Out magazine

“The gradation which substitutes violence for peace, goes side by side with the substitution of the city by nature. In this picturebook, borderless illustration overlaid with details and colours offer us an observational experience, a return and a slowness, all of which breaks the textual reading.” Andreia Brites, revista Blimunda

“A book which invites reflection on the absurd nature of conflicts, war, disputes, and which celebrates life and forgiveness.” Rita Pimenta, Público Ímpar

“In this book, we must emphasise the wise profusion of illustrations, which move from aching sobriety to an explosion of colour and plenitude. There is, indeed, a strong dialogue between the lean text and an intelligent visual representation which forces the reader to savour each moment of fruition in this work.” Rui Marques Veloso, Caminhos de Leitura

“(…) a book about a journey as a dialogue with others, with ourselves and with the world, more than about offence or vengeance. That bookshops will tidy it away in the children’s book section is perhaps an inevitable effect of the market, but that shouldn’t stop readers of other ages untidying it so as to find there the mirror of a world with not enough dialogue and too much bravado – it would be a great shame.” Sara Figueiredo Costa, Expresso