The Gunpowder Plot recreates the terrorist conspiracy annually commemorated on Guy Fawkes Day. Antonia Fraser has researched the plot by Roman Catholic extremists to topple the government of James I of England, and she outlines the parallels between the religious extremists of the Jacobean era and the fanatics of the 20th century. Dorris Lessing chose this title as a Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year for 1996.