A tumultuous decade of ingenious novelties

THE 1650S ARE BACK. AGAINST THE backdrop of our new Carolean age, a flurry of books has appeared to illuminate our nation’s brief flirtation with republican government. Paul Lay, quondam literary editor of The Critic, led the way with Providence Lost; Clare Jackson’s Devil-Land won the Wolfson Prize two years ago; Henry Reece’s The Fall documents the last days of the English republic; and the second volume of Ronald Hutton’s monumental biography of Oliver Cromwell has just been released to much fanfare.

To their number we may add Alice Hunt’s , a