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Act of Oblivion: The Sunday Times Bestseller

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But now, ten years after Charles' beheading, the royalists have returned to power. Under the provisions of the Act of Oblivion, the fifty-nine men who signed the king's death warrant and participated in his execution have been found guilty in absentia of high treason. Some of the Roundheads, including Oliver Cromwell, are already dead. Others have been captured, hung, drawn, and quartered. A few are imprisoned for life. But two have escaped to America by boat. Act of Oblivion' (2022) is Robert Harris' latest offering and this time around, Harris novel is set around the period - post English civil war, subsequent interregnum and restoration of the monarchy.

Robert Harris - Penguin Books UK Robert Harris - Penguin Books UK

So, is it historically on point? It is. And especially gives a more than average quality account for Boston, Cambridge etc. during this Puritan immigrant period. Is it 3 to 4 star in the ball park for the English and European continental ends of the pursuit for the regicides? Of course, this is Harris. In the most part, Act of Oblivion features real characters and real events, with lots of fun to be had in the fiction Harris weaves into the gaps.This book is a sweeping saga set in the 1600s about the hunt for two (real) men, William Goffe and Edward Whalley, who signed the death warrant of Charles I, and their life in hiding in America. Richard Nayler is the fictional hunter of the “regicides.” The hunt begins in 1660 upon restoration of Charles II, son of Charles I, to the throne of England after the ousting and death of Oliver Cromwell. The titular Act of Oblivion pardoned the past treasons committed against the Crown, with the exception of the regicides. The two fugitives are related by marriage – Whalley is the father-in-law of Goffe. Whalley is also cousin to Oliver Cromwell. The families are the two men also feature in the narrative. Harris's cleverness, judgment and eye for detail are second to none Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times

Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris | Waterstones

Veteran actor Tim McInnerny delivers a masterly narration of Harris's novel. He truly inhabits the characters, his voice and manner finely tuned to the personality and convictions of each: Goffe, a fanatical, millenarian Puritan; Whalley, more practical and ultimately disillusioned; Nayler, smoothly menacing, but prey to depression ... this production is perfect.

Based on real and fascinating history, this is Robert Harris's best since An Officer and a Spy The Times Over half the Regicides have since died but, of the remaining survivors, two names are highest on the most wanted list: Edward Whalley and William Goffe, who are suspected to have fled to the New England colonies across the Atlantic. Richard Nayler is appointed by the Crown to hunt down these men and bring them the King’s justice. And so the chase begins - will Whalley and Goffe get away with it?

Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris - Penguin Books Australia Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris - Penguin Books Australia

The plot is simple: two men, part of a larger group responsible for regicide, are pursued across New England by a hunter. The latter figure is fictional, though as Harris makes clear in his introduction such a man must have existed. There are good sides and bad sides to both parties in this novel, shades of grey that make it all the more thrilling. If, like me, you come to Act of Oblivion with no knowledge of what happened to Whalley and Goffe (both real people), then I would strongly advise against looking up the details until you’ve finished reading. It’s better not to know and be kept in suspense wondering whether or not they’ll be caught. However, the book wasn’t quite as exciting as I’d expected based on others I’ve read by Robert Harris; although some of the ‘chase’ sections are very gripping, a lot of time is also spent on a memoir Whalley has been writing about the events of the Civil War and his relationship with Oliver Cromwell, and I felt that this slowed the pace down a lot. An absolutely stunning historical novel and a ripping crime thriller at the same time. I've been recommending it far and wide and buying it for people for Christmas! Dead Good Harris, deft as ever, weaves a hefty amount of historical fact into the narrative, politics, religion, colonial life, family ties - as well as themes of forgiveness and reconciliation. Underneath it all though is the remorseless and building propulsion of hunter and prey New Statesman

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Act of Oblivion is an epic journey across continents, and a chase like no other. It is the thrilling new novel by Robert Harris.

Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris review – regicides on the Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris review – regicides on the

It’s not clear who we’re meant to be rooting for but, because Nayler, Goffe and Whalley are such meh characters, I didn’t feel strongly one way or the other whether the Regicides escaped or whether Nayler caught up to them. It’s that uninvolving a narrative. A disappointing one for me, then, though most people seem to be loving it, so as usual it clearly comes down to subjective taste. I. Убийствата на крале не са нещо нечувано за 17-ти век, но официална смъртна присъда над едноличен владетел, обнародвана и приведена в изпълнение публично, ��езспорно е прецедент. В рамките на 11 години Англия е република. Посланието на надделелите през тези 11 години пуритани, наред с останалото, за първи път в Европа ясно и категорично заявява, че кралете не са над закона, важещ за техните поданици. И че властта на кралете не се дава от Бога, напук на официалната теза. Whalley is the only reflective character, confronting the possibility (in the memoir, though not to others) that perhaps God had not been on the side of the Parliamentarians. Goffe and Nayler remain rigid in their views to the end, starkly representing the opposing sides. My knowledge of 17th century English history doesn't go much beyond the basics. Before reading this book I was unaware of the scope of the hunt for the "regicides", the men who were responsible for the beheading of Charles I as part of Cromwell's rise to power. Edward Whalley and his son-in-law William Goffe, officers in Cromwell's army, escaped from England to America, thus avoiding the ominous fate that awaited those who were captured in England or on the continent. Act of Oblivion: A Novel is a fictionalization of their lives, and those around them, after they landed in Boston.England. General Edward Whalley and his son-in law Colonel William Goffe board a ship bound for the New World. They are on the run, wanted for the murder of King Charles I—a brazen execution that marked the culmination of the English Civil War, in which parliamentarians successfully battled royalists for control. The execution of the king was the defining event of this struggle. Harris chooses to focus instead on the lives in exile of two of the regicides, Goffe and Edward Whalley. In 1660, they fled to America, where many of the colonists were Puritans with no love for the king. Both men were distinguished soldiers. Whalley was Oliver Cromwell’s cousin, a trusted member of the Lord Protector’s inner circle, and Goffe was Whalley’s son-in-law. We know tantalisingly little about their lives in America. They lived in hiding, in constant fear of arrest by the royalist agents who were searching for them. Richard Nayler is committed, determined and totally single minded - a true zealot , who is determined to bring to justice all 59 signatories of the death warrant of Charles 1. His prime targets, Colonel Edward Whalley and his son-in-law, Colonel William Goffe have fled to America where they are hidden by Puritan sympathisers. II, доволен се завръща на трона в Лондон. Цената е Законът за Забравата, даващ амнистия на републиканците. Но не и на 59-те подписали смъртната присъда на Чарлз I. Oblivion' tells a fictionalised version of a story based around (overwhelmingly) real characters and encompassing real events of the time.

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