What a baddie he was. The Irish wouldn’t have a lot of compassion for Mr C. However he was a man with family and feelings. He got his just desserts and terrorised a nation. I thought the book handled this so well and left me wondering about the effect one person can have on our history wow

An interesting book that has you hooked up to the end.I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who likes a good read.

The concept of an Irish man writing a fictionalised novel on Oliver Cromwell was too tempting not to read. Although broadly fiction, there is a fair bit of fact woven through this book. We get to know a bit more about the personality of Cromwell, I have had a historical interest in the Civil War in England across both perspectives ie Parliamentary and Royal. Add to what we actually know about the man's religious beliefs, his amazing ability to plan and strategise along with his personal trials and tribulations- Tom Reilly definitely adds nuance to his character even though it might be fiction. I really enjoyed this book, well written and researched. My thanks to Netgalley, the publishers and the Author for the chance to read an advanced copy of The Protector.

4.0 out of 5 stars Goes into the mind and motivations of one of history's most complex leaders
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 July 2022
Oliver Cromwell has always been one of my heroes, despite his slide into being a quasi-monarch/autocrat. This fascinating fictionalised biography blends the personal and the political, charting his rise to power, as he moved from being a rather wild young man, a reprobate even, to landowner to brilliant military strategist.

Along the way, we see his pain and sadness at child loss and have an insight into the invidious war that tore families apart. If true, the episode where the down-at-heel family are about to sail for the New World, and are recalled at the last minute by an inheritance form Cromwell’s uncle, must rank as one of history’s most significant ‘what if?’ moments.

I have been troubled by Cromwell’s record in Ireland, not only because I have Irish ancestry. Written by an author from Drogheda, the novel convincingly puts the case for absolving Cromwell of the worst anti-Catholic atrocities in Ireland, with which history has charged him. This will be a controversial proposition, but one which this reader would like to believe!

Similarly, while one shouldn’t blame the victim, we see how Charles I contributed to the animosity against him. He could clearly start an argument in an empty room.

I have no hesitation in awarding this meticulously researched novelisation 4 stars.

I took an interest in Oliver Cromwell because I had been reading historical fiction books set during that time. I found his life to be very interesting and I find it fascinating that his name lives on, even here in America where British history isn't exactly something we care about.

This to me is an interesting subject and an interesting perfect but I must say this book just didn't do it justice and didn't do it for me. I found it not at all engaging and a bit boring so for the most part just skimmed through it.

It needed more depth and more although easily read it just didn't hold my attention.

"The Protector: The Fall and Rise of Oliver Cromwell," by Tom Reilly, was recently provided to me as an ARC by its publisher, John Hunt Publishing. It is a work of historical fiction as opposed to a conventional and straight forward work of history (if there is such a thing). I have long been fascinated by the figure of Oliver Cromwell and have read a number of books on both the Lord High Protector and the English Civil Wars of the mid-seventeenth century, so it was with some eagerness and trepidation that I undertook to read and review the text. It is easy reading and takes a strongly biographical approach to its subject material. That said, if you are seriously interested in Cromwell, there are many far more comprehensive texts. Frankly, I was somewhat disappointed. While it is easy to read and is obviously based on the factual figure of Oliver Cromwell and some of the major events in his life, it failed to hold my attention and as a student of military history in particular, it is lacking in detail and analysis. In fairness, I am probably missing the point here. The author does not pretend that this is a conventional history, and that tends to be the yardstick I apply when I measure it. Many readers, particularly young ones, will find this a good brief introduction to Cromwell, and it might serve as a jump off to more serious works on the Protector, but overall, I am afraid that, for me, it does not do justice to its enormously complex subject, and there are many better books on Cromwell out there.

Net Galley has started listing fiction books (in this case a novel) in nonfiction categories and this time they fooled me which I do not appreciate. I read ONLY nonfiction so I did not read this novel.