Act of Oblivion is an epic journey across continents, and a chase like no other …
Introduction to the author and book
Robert Dennis Harris (born 7 March 1957)
Born: Nottingham; Current residence: Hungerford, Berkshire,
Spouse: Gill Hornby (sister of novelist Nick Hornby); they have four children.
An English novelist – former journalist and BBC television reporter. Began his writing career in non-fiction but his fame rests upon his works of historical fiction. Beginning with the best-seller Fatherland, Harris focused on events surrounding the Second World War, followed by works set in ancient Rome.
Harris was educated at Selwyn College, Cambridge, where he was president of the Union and editor of the student newspaper Varsity.
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 thirty, he became political editor of The Observer. He later wrote regular columns for the Sunday Times and the Daily Telegraph.
Harris’s first book (non-fiction) appeared in 1982. A Higher Form of Killing, a study of chemical and biological warfare, was written with fellow BBC journalist, Jeremy Paxman.
Fatherland (1992) was RH’s first novel – a million-selling alternative-history in which the setting is a world where Germany has won the Second World War. Publication enabled Harris to become a full-time novelist. HBO made a film based on the novel in 1994.
Harris stated that the proceeds from the book enabled him to buy a house in the country, where he still lives.
Act of Oblivion (published 8 June 2023) is an epic journey across continents, and a chase like no other.
1660. Colonel Edward Whalley and his son-in-law, Colonel William Goffe, cross the Atlantic. They are on the run and wanted for the murder of Charles I. Under the provisions of the Act of Oblivion, they have been found guilty in absentia of high treason.
In London, Richard Nayler, secretary of the regicide committee of the Privy Council, is tasked with tracking down the fugitives. He’ll stop at nothing until the two men are brought to justice. A reward hangs over their heads – for their capture, dead or alive.
“It is well researched and pretty much historically accurate although Nayler and his search are the author’s invention as too is the ending. A fascinating read – not so much as a thriller but as an absorbing story bringing an important historical period to life”.
‘A master storyteller’ Observer
One of Harris’s most compellingly paced books to date … it is his best since Fatherland. Few writers combine history, politics and excitement of a thriller as enthrallingly as Robert Harris does. Sunday Times
Act of Oblivion is a belter of a thriller. It will be compulsive reading for those who loved An Officer and a Spy, Harris’s book about the Dreyfus affair. Like that novel, the research is immaculate. A chewy, morally murky slice of history is made into a thriller that twists and surprises. The characters are strong and we care about their predicament. The story stretches over continents and years, but the suspense feels as taut as if the three main characters were locked in a room with a gun. The Times
Act of Oblivion is a fine novel about a divided nation, about invisible wounds that heal slower than visible ones … It feels like an important book for our particular historical moment, one that shows the power of forgiveness and the intolerable burden of long-held grudges. Observer
The book excels in its stunning recreation of the landscape of America. Harris proves himself to be masterful at this and it gives the book a vibrant memorability. New Statesman
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Vicki James & Helen Sinclair
The next book for June 24 will be …
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi