Book Review - Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris

This novel concerns a manhunt, set against the backdrop of the turbulent seventeenth century. It is largely based on a true story, the fugitives being the Puritan colonels Edward Whalley and Willliam Goffe, although the pursuer in the book is an invented character, bearing comparison with the relentless Inspector Javert the main antagonist from Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. In fact there must have been a similar person in reality, as such a manhunt required a manhunter.

The wider canvas concerns the religious conflicts of the sixteenth and seventeenth century, the beginnings of the English settlement of North America, and the fate of the indigenous inhabitants of that continent. For us in the twenty first Century it is impossible to understand the religious passions which animated so much of Europe in those days. Puritans, Anglicans and Catholics hated each other, while from 1618 to 1648, the thirty years war, one of the most destructive conflicts in European history killed an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians most of whom died from the effects of battle, famine, or disease. Parts of Germany reported population declines of over fifty per cent. Yet all these people considered themselves followers of Christ, who said "Love one another", "Forgive your enemies", and "Do not Kill".

The specific crime for which the two central characters in this novel were being hunted was that they were regarded by those who took over England at the Restoration as regicides, because they signed the death warrant for Charles I. That the latter was responsible for thousands of deaths due to his insistence on the divine right of Kings held no significance for the vengeful royalists, but it was the barbaric manner in which they executed any regicide who fell into their hands that causes the modern reader to wish them success in evading their pursuers. The mediaeval torture chambers, burning at the stake, the rack, and other horrors were not enough. It was hanging until unconscious, castration, disembowelling, burning of the living entrails and quartering, which was what they visited upon those they captured. This from people who claimed to be Christian!

Most of the pursuit takes place in the new English settlements in New England, which were at a very early stage of development, and, due to the small populations, were not as easy refuges for the pursued as one might have supposed. In addition the conflicts which arose between these arrivals from Europe and the native Americans were precursors of the terrible Indian wars of later centuries. It is likely that, if the Indians had known of what fate awaited them, and had been united, they could have repelled the European invasion by instantly destroying every group which arrived, but of course they did not, and the moment passed.

The chase itself is gripping, and one must read the book to discover the final result. Robert Harris is an excellent novelist, and this latest book is as good as his others, such as Fatherland and Enigma. However although it is not relevant to the novel I cannot but remember the insults he has directed at those of us who supported Brexit, so it proves that the values of a man, and the tone of his work may differ greatly.