Act of Oblivion

Author: Robert Harris
Publisher: Harper Colins 2022

I bought this book because: (a) I have a collection of all his other books, (b) I am happy with his historical novels, and (c) Amazon offered the Kindle version for $1.99.

The history behind this novel was novel to me. Stating it very concisely, Charles I, the king of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, was in financial difficulties; his newly instituted taxes were unpopular; and his religious activities were also unpopular. In the 1640s, a mostly Puritan army led by Oliver Cromwell defeated the king's armies, and the king was taken prisoner. His nefarious deals with the Scottish Parliament and foreign powers to free himself further eroded relations between him and the Puritan army. After a short trial, he was beheaded in 1649, and Cromwell became the Lord Protector of England until his death in 1658. The English monarchy was reestablished in 1660 with the coronation of Charles II, his son.

(Read Wikipedia for further information.)

Soon after, Parliament passed the Act of Oblivion to capture and prosecute all who signed the death warrant of Charles I. Even the signatories who had died, including Cromwell, were dug up and their bodies hanged. The regicides who surrendered suffered horribly.

“The lord Chief Justice placing a small square of black cloth upon his head and pronouncing the terrible sentence, again and again: `The judgement of this court is that you be led back to the place from whence you came, and from thence to be drawn upon a hurdle to the place of execution, and there you shall be hanged by the neck, and being alive shall be cut down, and your privy members be cut off, your entrails to be taken out of your body, and you living, the same to be burnt before your eyes, and your head to be cut off, your body to be divided into four quarters, and your head and quarters to be disposed of at the pleasure of the King’s Majesty; and the Lord have mercy upon your soul.”

Two of the regicides, Colonel Edward Whalley and his son-in-law, Colonel William Goffe, managed to escape to America. The Puritans in the British colonies were willing to help them hide from the hunters. However, the large bounty offered for their capture made it very difficult for them to remain hidden.

In his Author’s Note at the end of the book, Robert Harris states:

This novel is an imaginative re-creation of a true story: the tracking down of the `regicides’, the killers of King Charles I, the greatest manhunt of the seventeenth century—in particular, the pursuit of Edward Whalley and William Goffe across New England.  The events, dates and locations are accurate, and almost every character is real, apart from Richard Nayler.  I suspect there must have been such a person—you cannot sustain a manhunt without a manhunter—but whoever he was, his identity is lost to history.

The story was a bit boring at times due to the lack of excitement, which I think you cannot expect from a 'true story.' However, since this is a novel, the author could have added more exciting events to spice up the story. Other than that, I did enjoy reading it.