Act of Oblivion, Robert Harris, Tim McInnerny, narrator
This excellent novelist and superb audio reader have put together a wonderful experience for those who enjoy novels in the genre of historic fiction. In the 1600’s, England experienced a series of Civil Wars. After the Roundheads defeated the Royalists who were loyal to the Crown, Charles I was put to death, beheaded, without even the semblance of a legitimate trial. Those who signed his death warrant were known as regicides.
The Roundheads were led by a maniacal Oliver Cromwell. The Roundheads seemed to be fighting for religious freedom, and the restoration of Parliament, but at times they were less tolerant than the crown with whom they had found fault. After the King was murdered, Cromwell became Lord Protector, and he ruled over the English Commonwealth. Although he had pursued religious freedom for the Puritans, he was not always as open to religious freedom for others. Although he had wanted to restore Parliament, he also disbanded it at one time. He was eventually offered the possibility of being made the King, but he refused since he had fought against the monarchy. In essence, however, he conducted himself as if he was a King, since as time passed, he became more and more of a dictator. After his death, his son Richard tried to assume his role of Lord Protector, but he was unsuccessful, and eventually, Charles II was restored to the throne and the monarchy resumed.
The Act of Oblivion, formally known as The Indemnity and Oblivion Act of 1660, was passed by Parliament. The Act of Oblivion pardoned most of those involved in the Civil Wars, except for those guilty of murder (the regicides). rape, witchcraft, etc. The regicides were to be brought to justice for the murder of the King, but those who surrendered were supposed to be granted clemency. It was actually Edward Hyde who insured the passage of the Act of Oblivion. Hyde was the chief advisor to Charles I, and then he was the Lord Chancellor to Charles II. This novel explores that time period which was also the time of the English Civil Wars.
In this novel, the author has created Richard Nayler and his wife out of whole cloth. He was a devotee of the King and of the Earl of Clarendon, Edward Hyde. Richard Nayler’s wife went into premature labor, after being confronted and questioned by the Roundheads. Both she and the child had died. After this misfortune, Nayler became obsessed with seeing all regicides punished for their treason and until his death was consumed with their pursuit and capture, both at home and abroad, so his purpose was to explore and explain how Edward Whalley and William Goffe, his son-in-law, two of the eleven hated military governors under Cromwell, had escaped and then eluded capture. Since many of the 59 signatories on the death warrant were brought to English justice, there must have been some kind of organized effort to capture them, although whatever it was remains a mystery. The author used Nayler’s imagined influence with Hyde, and his obsession to bring the regicides to justice, to expose the exiled lives of Edward Whalley and William Goffe. It makes for a creative story that is actually filled with authentic history as a result of some very serious research by the author.