A review of “Act Of Oblivion” by Robert Harris
Over a period of three decades, British novelist Robert Harris has written 15 bestselling novels, mostly works of historical fiction, many set in Ancient Rome or around the Second World War. “Act Of Oblivion” is the eighth that I have read.It is classic Harris but set in a different time period: the two decades of the mid 17th century, after the epochal events of the English Civil War, the execution of King Charles I, and the restoration of King Charles II. The narrative switches between England and New England and all the named characters, except one, were real people. Unlike some of Harris’s novels, we are not sure how this will end.
The odd title comes from legislation in the English Parliament which, following the restoration, absolved all parties from prosecution, except those involved in the killing of the king. The focus is overwhelmingly on two of the regicides – Colonel Edward Whalley and his son-in-law Colonel William Goffe – who escaped to the new colonies and their intended nemesis, Richard Naylor, clerk to the Privy Council and regicide hunter-in-chief (the one invented character).
“Act Of Oblivion” is meticulously researched, wonderfully crafted, and a joy to read. We learn a good deal about how people of that time lived and died and about both the depth and the division of political thought and religious belief of that era. It is bound to be adapted for television or cinema.