Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9.5/10
If there is one thing you can guarantee upon in life is that the writer Robert Harris will deliver a tale of such epic proportions that it becomes a true definition of the phrase, unputdownable; and in the post English Civil War/ War Of The Three Kingdoms set novel, Act Of Oblivion, that sharpness of writing, the detail of research, the sense of pacing, all lead to a conclusion that this 2022 book is as exciting, as dedicated to the reader as Fatherland 30 years beforehand, Munich, or even the factual Selling Hitler: The Story of the Hitler Diaries, and as the tale of regicides Colonel Edward Whalley and Colonel William Goffe turn from established fact to possible example of their final endings, the reader cannot but help be immediately satisfied with the explanation and the hunt that has been caused by the protagonist Richard Naylor.
Set in the aftermath of the restoration of the English monarchy and the search for those who signed the death warrant of Charles I which led to his execution, Robert Harris’s ambitious period piece is nothing short of incredible, richly detailed and with a flourish that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat.
The novel has at its heart a valuable sense of historical truth within which makes even the keenest of amateur historians reaching for anything that may resemble in depth texts and further information on two of history’s most important survivors of Cromwell’s authoritarian and dictatorial reign as Lord Protector, and how they evaded the forces of England’s army and spy network to become almost legendary figures, especially in a small corner of New England where it seems Goffe became synonymous as the figure behind the tale of The Angel of Hadley.
Robert Harris has always brought history to life, he has weaved such a pattern of enjoyable and intricate storytelling as one entity and made sure that even in the moments which can only be surmised, presumed, or imaginatively gathered and given credence through the reader’s interpretation of fact blurred with fiction.
Act Of Oblivion hammers home the aftermath of both Civil War and the sacrifice that religion and support of the Parliament or King asks of each person; and whilst other regicides met a deathly end whilst still having had a modicum of luxury whilst on the run in Europe; the tale of two men who were forced to effectively become prisoners whilst in the open cannot but fail to have the reader ask pertinently, what they would do in the same position, would they suffer the same impenetrable hardships in the name of their god, would they spend the rest of their lives looking over the shoulder and be prepared to live in a cave or cellar for months on end.
The feeling of suffering, the fate of England as a nation in the days that saw wars, pandemics, overthrowing of one system only to see it replaced by one just as evil, just as damning is at times overwhelming, but as with any story wrapped up in history’s wake it is the need for subtlety of imagination which creates literary gold; and Robert Harris realises this in the sublime Act Of Oblivion.
Ian D. Hall