Book Review: Act of Oblivion, Robert Harris

This an exciting book to read now that we’re settling into the reign of Charles III.

The previous two King Charles were controversial. Oliver Cromwell and a collection of Parliamentarians signed the death warrant of Charles I, who was beheaded in Whitehall on Saturday 30th January 1649.

When Charles II was restored to the throne in May 1660, he wasted no time agreeing to the Privy Council’s demand that those who had signed the death warrant – the ‘regicides’ – should be hunted down and executed.

The Act of Oblivion passed by Parliament in 1660, pardoned all except the regicides.

Robert Harris’ book traces the chase between Richard Nayler, a member of the Privy Council, and two regicides, Colonels Whalley and Goffe as they sought refuge in America, in New England.

The book is an historical fiction, a gripping read, that will take you into the convictions that divided England at the time, and the reality of the early settlers and New England colonies who were fiercely Protestant and republican by nature and yet ruled over by King Charles III, our relations with the Dutch, and with native Indians in New England.

Robert Harris’ book traces the chase between Richard Nayler, a member of the Privy Council, and two regicides, Colonels Whalley and Goffe as they sought refuge in America, in New England

It’s a page-turner with a helpful cast list at the front full of historical figures. Only two characters are fully fictional. Harris keeps close to the actual events and those who acted out the twists and turns of the Civil War and its after-effects.