Act of Oblivion cover art

Act of Oblivion

 Preview
Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Act of Oblivion

By: Robert Harris
Narrated by: Tim McInnerny
Try Standard free

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $25.84

Buy Now for $25.84

About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

'From what is it they flee?'
He took a while to reply. By the time he spoke the men had gone inside. He said quietly, 'They killed the King.'

1660, General Edward Whalley and Colonel William Goffe, father- and son-in-law, 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 of £100 hangs over their heads - for their capture, dead or alive.

ACT OF OBLIVION is an epic journey across continents, and a chase like no other. It is the thrilling new novel by Robert Harris.

© Robert Harris 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

 Crime Thrillers Historical Mystery Suspense Thriller & Suspense Crime Fiction Thriller

Critic Reviews

One of Harris's most compellingly paced to date . . . it is his best since Fatherland
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.
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
Harris's books are always supremely readable - he has practically trademarked the term 'master storyteller' (Alex Preston)
[Harris] writes with a skill and ingenuity that few other novelists can match
A lightning-quick thriller, the tension cranked right up throughout, and Harris' 17th century New England is so real you can almost smell it (Tim Weaver, author of BLACKBIRD)
Harris (Munich) again turns a historical event into a canny page-turner. . . Harris humanizes the hunter and the hunted, and brings to life an obscure chapter in colonial American history. This further burnishes Harris's reputation as a talented author of historical suspense
Gripping . . . Thoroughly enjoyable. . . . [This} deeply researched story is the author's brilliant reimagining of real historical events, with sympathetic characters and a compelling plot
Harris's cleverness, judgment and eye for detail are second to none (Dominic Sandbrook)
The master of the intelligent thriller
All stars
Most relevant
Really enjoyed this book. Interesting to read it at the same time Charles III was ordained. Illustrated the absolute futility of religious doctrine.
Narration was excellent, don’t know how he did so many characters without it sounding trite.
Was a little disappointed in the ending, but that’s just a personal preference and a minor gripe.

History lesson woven into a story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
robert harris knows history. his novels require concentration. however the effort is rewarded with a feast of knowledge that transports the reader back to a time of amazing characters and dramatic events.

heavy going

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I love his work. Economy of language, narrative flow, even pace. Good reader too. Love it and recommend it.

Harris is one of the best

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I couldn't stop thinking about the 2 main protagonists.
Deeply flawed men, so human.
10/10

compelling

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Where do one’s sympathies lie? There is the question. Either with the hunted regicides with their bloody history of battles leading to the execution of Charles 1, or with the man sent to hunt two of them literally to the ends of the known earth, the man who lost his wife because of one of these men. It’s a tale of obsession, religious and personal which is researched with phenomenal care. Obsession leads to madness and the end of the book is unpredictable. An enjoyable, if frightening, glimpse into the English Civil war and beyond into the Restoration, I found it hard to stop listening!

Amazingly researched story of regicide and beyond

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.