Act of Oblivion

This captivating historical novel, written by the best-selling author of Fatherland, The Ghostwriter, Munich, and Conclave, brilliantly imagines one of the greatest manhunts in history: the hunt for the two Englishmen who killed King Charles I and the unforgiving enemy who followed them. It's an epic journey into the wilderness of seventeenth-century New England and a chase unlike any other.

"What are they running away from?"

His response took a long time. The guys had already inside by the time he spoke. "They killed the King," he muttered.

England, 1660. Colonel William Goffe, the son-in-law of General Edward Whalley, boards a ship that is headed for the New World. They are fugitives, sought for the savage assassination of King Charles I, which put an end to the English Civil War, which saw parliamentarians defeat royalists in the struggle for power.

However, eight years after Charles' decapitation, the royalists are once again in charge. The fifty-nine individuals who signed the king's death warrant and took part in his execution have been declared guilty in absentia of high treason under the terms of the Act of Oblivion. Oliver Cromwell is among the Roundheads who have already passed away. Some have been apprehended, quartered, drawn, and hanged. Some are sentenced to life in jail. However, two managed to flee by boat to America.

Richard Nayler, the secretary of the Privy Council's regicide committee in London, is tasked with finding the traitors and will do everything it takes to bring them to justice. A sizable prize for their capture—alive or dead—hangs over their heads.

Act of Oblivion, Robert Harris's first historical fiction book, is mostly set in America. It is an epic real tale about faith, revenge, and power—and the consequences incurred by those who wield it. Act of Oblivion has a compelling plot and extraordinary characters.