Sharpe’s Fury

From his Saxon Chronicles to Agincourt to the Sharpe series (approximately 21 books long plus short stories), Cornwell is a masterful writer of action and adventure. Richard Sharpe, a whore’s bastard raised in the rough London streets, starts out as an English private serving in India in 1799, where he is flogged early on for trumped up charges. Despite his humble origins, one thing he excels in is fighting – he is a superb and lethal soldier – rising to the rank of sergeant. Fate brings him into contact on the battlefield with the future Lord Wellington, whose life he saves, earning him a commission to junior officer. This opens a whole new set of challenges, as he faces the distrust of his enlisted ranks and the disdain of his gentlemen officers. Sharpe’s adventures take him through the Napoleonic Wars in western Europe and promotions through the ranks to regimental commander. There is abundant action, politics, brutal violence, sex, complicated plot lines and studies in human nature, all written in with gripping prose and attention to historical and military detail. At the end of each story, Cornwell summarizes the actual history into which Sharpe’s adventures have been woven. (amazon customer)