Act of Oblivion [B1721]

2023 PB with some wear. The spellbinding historical novel that brilliantly imagines one of the greatest manhunts in history: the search for two Englishmen involved in the killing of King Charles I and the implacable foe on their trail--an epic journey into the wilds of seventeenth-century New England, and a chase like no other. 'From what is it they flee?' He took a while to reply. By the time he spoke the men had gone inside. He said quietly, "They killed the King." 1660 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. 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. In London, Richard Nayler, secretary of the regicide committee of the Privy Council, is charged with bringing the traitors to justice and he will stop at nothing to find them. A substantial bounty hangs over their heads for their capture--dead or alive. . . . Robert Harris's first historical novel set predominantly in America, Act of Oblivion is a novel with an urgent narrative, remarkable characters, and an epic true story to tell of religion, vengeance, and power--and the costs to those who wield it.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "Thoroughly enjoyed this story. The detail was just fabulous, it really felt that you were there and boy was I rooting for Col Goffe. What hard times they were, for all concerned. Loved it."; "Oh my word what a banger. Absolutely gripped until the very last page. And I was extremely invested in all the characters, to a surprising degree in fact considering how self-righteous most of them are."; "Excellent. Historical fiction at its best. Keeps a really great pace through the passage of time. Also managed to reflect on past historic events in an engaging way, though the eyes of different protagonists."; "Absolutely gripping and fascinating. I was whisked away to an earlier time and made to feel the fear and smell the stink of revolution. The large parts set in the earlier days of the east coast cities of the USA were so evocative. This book broke me out of a pretty bad reading rut."