Over the last few years I have been working my way through Bernard Cornwell ‘s “Sharpe” series of novels. Richard Sharpe is an English soldier from the early part of the 19th century fighting battles in India, Denmark, Portugal and ultimately France (though I haven’t got this far yet). Each book follows a basic pattern – you know that Sharpe isn’t going to get killed and that the English will win so the drama always comes from two sources – i) there’s always someone, often on his own side, who Sharpe gets into a personal feud with who ultimately gets their comeuppence and ii) there’s always a girl who despite her best intentions to do otherwise falls for Sharpe (it’s just a question of how many pages into the book this happens). So the Sharpe novels are highly formulaic, but because of this picking one up to read is like getting in touch with an old friend and Bernard Cornwell is undoubtedly a master of the genre. Sharpe’s Escape is set in Portugal and involves Sharpe and his companions effecting a rather messy escape froma tight spot to re-join the English and Portuguese armies as they hold the French at bay north of Lisbon. I’m reading the series in historical order (not the order they were written) – so far it has been Sharpe’s… Tiger – Triumph – Fortress – Trafalgar – Prey – Rifles – Havoc – Eagle – Gold – Escape… next comes Fury.
Tim O'Hare 