Robert Harris is the author of thirteen bestselling novels- the Cicero Trilogy - Imperium, Lustrum and Dictator - Fatherland, Enigma, Archangel, Pompeii, The Ghost, The Fear Index, An Officer and a Spy, which won four prizes including the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, Conclave, Munich and The Second Sleep. Several of his books have been filmed, including The Ghost, which was directed by Roman Polanski. His work has been translated into forty languages and he is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He lives in West Berkshire with his wife, Gill Hornby. His next book, V2, is coming out in autumn 2020.
One of Harris's most compellingly paced to date . . . it is his
best since Fatherland
*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*
Harris's books are always supremely readable - he has practically
trademarked the term 'master storyteller'
*Observer*
[Harris] writes with a skill and ingenuity that few other novelists
can match
*Financial Times*
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
*Publishers Weekly*
Gripping . . . Thoroughly enjoyable. . . . [This} deeply researched
story is the author's brilliant reimagining of real historical
events, with sympathetic characters and a compelling plot
*Kirkus Reviews*
Harris's cleverness, judgment and eye for detail are second to
none
*Sunday Times*
The master of the intelligent thriller
*Daily Telegraph*
I have been waiting for most of my life for Robert Harris to write
a novel that is not gripping, insightful and entertaining. I am
waiting still
*The Times*
The king of the page-turning thriller
*i Paper*
Harris is a master of historical fiction, a compelling author who
brings to life the recent and ancient past
*TLS*
Act Of Oblivion offers a resonant history of both England and
America as they struggle to forge a myth of nationhood out of
opposing ideologies
*Daily Mail*
The joy is in the vivid re-creation of 17th Century England and
America and in the sly parallels with today that Harris teases
out
*Mail on Sunday*
He has taken a truly extraordinary factual tale and turned it into
a fun fictional version, with pace throughout, and a crowd-pleasing
finale
*The Oldie*
A masterclass in storytelling, so enthralling that if you'd
disembowelled me whilst I was reading this book I doubt I'd have
noticed!
*Daily Express*
A tale that grips from start to finish. It's a remarkable
achievement
*Metro*
Master storyteller Robert Harris has forged history anew, melding
fact and fiction
*RTÉ*
Harris spins an exciting tale which I hope will leave you hungry
for more
*Inside History Magazine*
If you like your page-turning popular fiction at the more
intelligent end of the spectrum, you could not do better than
this.
*Daily Telegraph*
A gripping thriller
*Press Association*
A gripping revenger's tale... This is by far Harris's best book
since An Officer and a Spy, which dealt with another great national
division: the Dreyfus case. He has produced a ripping page-turner
that breathes all the complexities and moral nuances of the Civil
War period
*Financial Times*
Lucid and full of suspense
*Spectator*
A thrilling page-turner based on real events . . . packed with rich
and fascinating historical detail
*The Scotsman*
In his new thriller, Robert Harris wrests [a] fascinating period
back from its unjust oblivion, showing how closely its complex
landscape of constitutional crises and Puritan politics played out
in new unregulated media resonates with us today
*The Critic*
Harris, deft as ever, weaves a hefty amount of historical fact into
the narrative, politics, religion, colonial life, family ties - as
well as themes of forgiveness and reconciliation. Underneath it all
though is the remorseless and building propulsion of hunter and
prey
*New Statesman*
A drama so involving and nerve-wracking, you can barely turn the
pages fast enough. Historic!
*Saga Magazine*
Another fantastic piece of historical fiction from Robert Harris,
immaculately researched and utterly believable
*IPU Review*
A gripping thriller and a timely reminder of the dangers of a
deeply divided and intolerant society
*The Shropshire Magazine*
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*
Few writers combine history, politics and excitement of a thriller
as enthrallingly as Robert Harris does.
*Sunday Times*
What Harris does here is nothing short of masterful.
*Irish Times*
Harris displays an impressive grasp of the historical context
without taxing his readers by showing his 'workings'.
*Church Times*
Based on real and fascinating history, this is Robert Harris's best
since An Officer and a Spy
*The Times*
Pacy and tense, and the pungently evoked past offers up some shrewd
present-day parallels
*Mail on Sunday*
An absolutely stunning historical novel and a ripping crime
thriller at the same time. I've been recommending it far and wide
and buying it for people for Christmas!
*Dead Good*
The best historical fiction combines a gripping plot with
meticulous research - leaving the reader inspired to learn more
about the real-life protagonists. And the latest release from
Robert Harris once more proves his mastery of the genre
*Soldier*
I loved Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris, which achieves the
astonishing feat of taking 17th-century events and people and
telling their stories in 21st-century language without a single
seam showing
*The Times*
Thrilling
*The Times*
This is a novel that asks big historical questions. You could read
it as a pure thriller, and it is one of Harris's most compellingly
paced to date. You could read it as a piece of intelligent
historical immersion. I think it is more; I think it is his best
novel since Fatherland.
*Sunday Times*
It's a belter.
*The Times*
If only all historical thrillers could be this entertaining.
*Observer*
In this tense and beautifully written account of the ensuing
manhunt, Harris brings sympathy to characters on either side of the
civil war that divided a nation.
*Daily Mail*
A brainy, compulsive page-turner.
*Daily Telegraph*
A violent, gripping, globetrotting chase thriller
*Daily Mirror*
He’s my go-to person that I know will keep me entertained
*Jane Garvey*
[A] rich, propulsive novel
*Sunday Times*
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