Act of Oblivion: The Thrilling new novel from the no. 1 bestseller Robert Harris

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VI. The like by reason of any Commission by the late or present King, or by Colour of any Ordinance of one or both Houses of Parliament, or the late Protector, &c. Dictator was the long-promised conclusion to the Harris Cicero trilogy. [9] It was published by Hutchinson on 8 October 2015. [10] Conclave (2016) [ edit ] 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. He took a while to reply. By the time he spoke the men had gone inside. He said quietly, 'They killed the King.'

After leaving Cambridge, Harris joined the BBC and worked on news and current affairs programmes such as Panorama and Newsnight. In 1987, at the age of 30, he became political editor of the newspaper The Observer. He later wrote regular columns for The Sunday Times and The Daily Telegraph. Several years ago, Harris told me he'd bought a wood-burning stove for his Berkshire home. With first oil prices rising, and then Putin's war sending the cost of gas soaring, it seems more of a sensible investment every time we speak.He took a while to reply. By the time he spoke the men had gone inside. He said quietly, “They killed the King.” 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.

Preston, Alex (30 August 2022). "Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris review – a master writer leads us on a 17th-century manhunt". The Guardian . Retrieved 10 October 2023.

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Harris hinted at a third, far less obvious, allusion hidden in the novel's title, and, more significantly, at a possible motive for having written the book in the first place. Blair, he said, had himself been ghostwriter, in effect, to President Bush when giving public reasons for invading Iraq: he had argued the case better than had the President himself. [8] 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. The former Newsnight reporter, married to novelist Gill Hornby with whom he has four children, has enjoyed enormous success with his books, and television, film and stage adaptations of his work. What keeps him writing? The Indemnity and Oblivion Act fulfilled the suggestion given in the Declaration of Breda that reprisals against the establishment which had developed during the English Interregnum would be restricted to those who had officiated in the regicide of King Charles I.

After a chilly morning walk with his dog, Charles I went stoically to his execution in January 1649 after the signing of his death warrant. The authority of Parliament now superseded that of a king who believed he ruled by divine right. It was not until 1660, after Charles II returned to England to claim the Crown, that the Indemnity and Oblivion Act was created: its purpose was to capture and execute the remaining 38 signers of the warrant that ended a defiant king's reign. It also pardoned individuals who had committed crimes during the English Civil War (1642-1651), while others received pardons who either switched their loyalty to the king or were too valuable to dispose of such as John Thurloe, Cromwell's secretary of state and spymaster, one well versed with covert activities in England and on the Continent.The passage of the Indemnity and Oblivion Act through the Convention Parliament was secured by Lord Clarendon, the first minister of King Charles II, and it became law on 29 August 1660 during the first year of the English Restoration. Edemariam, Aida (27 September 2007). "Aida Edemariam talks to author Robert Harris". The Guardian. London.

Even the body of Cromwell himself, who had died two years earlier, was dug up, posthumously "executed" and displayed. One man, Major-General Thomas Harrison, the first regicide to be executed, reputedly punched his executioner while he was being disembowelled. The Indemnity and Oblivion Act 1660 was an Act of the Parliament of England ( 12 Cha. 2. c. 11), the long title of which is " An Act of Free and General Pardon, Indemnity, and Oblivion". [1] This act was a general pardon for everyone who had committed crimes during the English Civil War and subsequent Commonwealth period, with the exception of certain crimes such as murder (without a licence granted by King or Parliament), piracy, buggery, rape and witchcraft, and people named in the act such as those involved in the regicide of Charles I. It also said that no action was to be taken against those involved at any later time, and that the Interregnum was to be legally forgotten. [2] History [ edit ]The narration by Tim McInnerny was excellent, with just enough change in vocal characterisations to be able to distinguish the main actors amongst quite a large cast of characters.