Act of Oblivion, Harris - B

                 This thoroughly researched and well written novel is set in the 17th century. The Act of Oblivion was signed by King Charles II in 1660. It condemned to death all of those who had participated in the trial, imprisonment and execution of his father, Charles I. Those still living regicides were hunted down. Our story features three principals. Col. Edward Whalley was Cromwell's cousin and Col. William Goffe was married to Whalley's daughter. Richard Naylor was the detective for the Privy Council. The two fugitives fled to America when it became apparent the new king would seek revenge. Naylor was determined to track down each and every one on the list. When he heard that the two men were in Massachusetts, he departed for Boston. The colonels had already fled for New Haven, a colony that paid little heed to London. Naylor arrived in the New World and began the chase. He pursued the two men through Connecticut and was sure he was very close at New Haven, but he could not crack the Puritan commitment to protect them. He eventually called off the search. The regicides spent almost the entire summer of 1661 in the woods living like the natives. By 1662, the appetite for revenge was fading in London and Naylor was told to not waste any more time pursuing the two colonel's. In the Colonies, the Puritans found shelter for the two men 80 miles inland in a town on the frontier. The aging colonels were destined to live out their lives in the far corner of Massachusetts. Whalley died first in 1674. The time and place of  Goffe's death is unknown. This book has some fabulous insights into the Cromwellian era and the intense religious extremism that drove both sides in the English Civil War.