Miss Wedgwood, whose reputation as a historian is unmatched, is also a magnificent prose stylist. In this sweeping story of one of the bloodiest events in English history, her talents are splendidly in evidence.

The drama begins with the "Divine Monarch," Charles I, a prisoner in the hands of his enemies. To all intents and purposes the English Civil War is over. A small band of determined men, under the formidable Oliver Cromwell, has decided that the King must die. Monarchs have been deposed or executed before, for reasons more plausible than just. But the men who plot to kill Charles I have the firm conviction that they are striking a blow against tyranny. The King, a lonely, dignified, tremendously appealing figure, is equally convinced that God has entrusted him with sacred power.

Throughout the gloomy, cold winter of 1648, beginning with March on London and the Purge of Parliament, the Army took over. Then after weeks of delays and confusion, the King was accused of "high treason and high misdemeanors," and tried before a High Court of Justice. The trial itself is a particularly vivid section of the book, with the immediacy of an eyewitness report.

Miss Wedgwood conveys with brilliant effect the mounting horror and passion, the inexorable progress toward the tragic end. The reader, although he knows the outcome, almost disbelieves that the dreadful last act will indeed take place.

In an Epilogue, the later fate the Regicides is recounted, and the curtain is rung down on the dark drama.