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 * The book excels in its stunning recreation of the landscape of America... Harris proves himself to be masterful at this and it gives the book a vibrant memorability * New Statesman *

May 1660, Bill of Pardon and Oblivion, British History On-line House of Commons Journal Volume 8 (www.british-history.ac.uk) I seriously enjoyed listening to this book. My only negative comment is that it was perhaps a little too long, as I did find my interest and attention wane during the mid stages of the narration. A few days of listening to several other, less note-worthy titles, ensued and I was ready to resume listening to Act of Oblivion to the end. 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.

BookBrowse Review

IX. The penalty of any officer, &c. that shall go about to disquiet or trouble any person pardoned by this act. The story explores two viewpoints. First, that of the fugitives Whalley and Goffe, both former officers in Cromwell’s army. The second is Richard Nayler, a member of the “regicides committee”, the group set up to hunt down the remaining regicides under the terms of the Act of Oblivion, a real law which pardoned all republicans except for those whose signatures appeared on the death warrant of Charles I. Carpenter is not alone in stressing the dangers here—dangers which grew exponentially after Trump was elected President. Consider a recent Washington Post column by Eugene Robinson titled “Trump apparently thinks he’s a master at gaslighting.” 56 Open this footnote Close this footnote 56 Eugene Robinson, Trump Apparently Thinks He’s a Master at Gaslighting, Wash. Post (Oct. 3, 2019, 2:00 PM PDT), https://perma.cc/VLA5-R6SY. … Open this footnote Close Robinson opens by saying: “President Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president was an impeachable abuse of power. I repeat: President Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president was an impeachable abuse of power. Once again, President Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president was an impeachable abuse of power.” 57 Open this footnote Close this footnote 57 Id. … Open this footnote Close Robinson makes no apology for the repetition, as he finds it necessary to counteract the equally insistent repetition of falsehoods spoken and tweeted by the President. 58 Open this footnote Close this footnote 58 See id. … Open this footnote Close He took a while to reply. By the time he spoke the men had gone inside. He said quietly, “They killed the King.” Every quarry needs a hunter. Harris counterbalances Whalley and Goffe with Richard Nayler, the fictional secretary to the regicide committee of the privy council, who has a powerful personal reason to want them dead. Meanwhile in London, Frances, Goffe’s devoted wife and Whalley’s daughter, provides another viewpoint. The novel’s narrative structure moves to and fro between them, ultimately leading to a brisk if slightly implausible conclusion.

July 1660 Proceedings of Regicides, British History On-line House of Commons Journal Volume 8 (www.british-history.ac.uk) The details of the regicides’ journey are historically accurate, Harris assures us, although he is obliged to speculate when it comes to the latter part of the story. History has not provided us with any information about the identity of the duo’s pursuers, so he has invented a splendid character called Richard Nayler, clerk of the Privy Council and general fixer to the aristocracy. Although Nayler loathes the sybaritic Charles II, he hounds Whalley and Goffe so remorselessly as to make Inspector Javert look like a nine-to-fiver. The act is often viewed from the perspective of those who were not pardoned and thus condemned to death. However, the debate in Parliament continued almost every day for over two months and names were added and taken off the list of those who were not to be pardoned. Initially, there were only seven on the list: [6] [7] Thomas Harrison, William Say, John Jones Maesygarnedd, Thomas Scot, John Lisle, Cornelius Holland, and John Barkstead. On 7 June, the Commons, mindful of the Declaration of Breda, stated they as the Commons could add to the list others who would not be covered by the general pardon. They immediately added John Cooke, Andrew Broughton, Edward Dendy, and the "Two Persons who were upon the Scaffold in a Disguise" (i.e. the executioners). [8] On 8 June, the Commons voted "That the Number of Twenty, and no more, (other than those that are already excepted, or sat as Judges upon the late King's Majesty) shall be excepted out of the Act of general Pardon and Oblivion, for and in respect only of such Pains, Penalties, and Forfeitures, (not extending to Life) as shall be thought fit to be inflicted on them by another Act, intended to be hereafter passed for that purpose". [9] He took a while to reply. By the time he spoke the men had gone inside. He said quietly, "They killed the King." Harris certainly seems to have done his research and he brings the time period to life convincingly enough with lots of detail. You know how sometimes people say they learn more about history through reading historical novels than actual history books? I can see people saying that about Harris’ historical novels like this one.Whalley begins as a pious and ruthless military commander. He’s a religious fanatic obsessed, as all Puritans in the novel are, with the idea of a Christian republic of England – a land where God rules supreme. Charles II, 1660: An Act of Free and Generall Pardon Indemnity and Oblivion., Statutes of the Realm: volume 5: 1628–80 (1819), pp. 226–34. British History Online, Date. Retrieved 27 February 2007.