Book Review: Sharpe’s Escape by Bernard Cornwell

Published: June 1, 2004

Chronology: Sharpe #10

SPOILERS AHEAD

1810. Richard Sharpe and the green-jacketed riflemen attached to the South Essex Regiment are back in action in the immediate aftermath of the Destruction of Almeida. The struggle between the British and Portuguese forces, commanded by the Duke of Wellington, and Marshal Massena’s French army for control of Portugal continues, and the French are facing both an emerging battlefield genius in Wellington and a famine that is threatening to derail Napoleon’s ambitions more permanently than any battlefield loss.

To help aid the French downfall, Wellington has ordered his army to strip bare the land over which they travel, and Sharpe’s men are at the forefront of these activities. He discovers a stash of food, which he burns, but not before making enemies in the form of two Portuguese brothers, one, Ferreira, a major who makes a living as an exploring officer/spy, and his violent brother, Ferragus. They are a formidable duo for Sharpe to handle.

The brothers are desperate to get wealthy, and to do so quickly, so they have arranged to sell much-needed food to the French. Sharpe gets in the way of this action, and cops a serious beating for his troubles, ambushed on the eve of the Battle of Bussaco. Worse, his position as commanding officer of the South Essex light company is under threat, because Colonel Lawford is trying to turn his brother-in-law, Slingsby, into a good soldier, and gives him command of the light company, including Sharpe’s constant companion, Patrick Harper for the battle.

Strange for Sharpe books, the major battle takes place in the first third of the story, rather than as a climax at the end. The Battle of Bussaco nearly ends in disaster, for both the South Essex and the British army as a whole, but victory is snatched from the jaws of defeat, and afterwards, Wellington’s army retreat to a line of impassable forts, the Lines of Torres Verdas, but Sharpe is trapped in a town along the way, hunted by the French and by the two brothers, Ferreira and Ferragus. He meets an English girl, Ms Fry, who works in the Ferreira household, and, as is often the way, Sharpe falls head over heels.

The ‘escape’ in the title of the twentieth Sharpe book published (but the tenth in chronological order) comes at about the halfway mark, and it’s done very well. Cornwell is a brilliant writer, bringing to life these ancient and epic battles, as well as the entire Napoleonic era vividly. He’s the master of Napoleonic fiction.

Sticking to what obviously works, Cornwell slips into a tried and true format, but there is still enough in each of these later instalments to keep a reader interested. You know Sharpe will beat the bad guys – and generally – get the girl, and his command intact, but Cornwell can still spring a surprise or three.

My Verdict: It’s great that the gaps in Sharpe’s long campaign to the fateful Battle of Waterloo, via India, Trafalgar, Copenhagen, Portugal and Spain are being filled in, but these more recent Sharpe novels, despite having good cameos from Major Hogan, Captain Leroy and others, seem a little more formulaic than the original set of novels. Still, this isn’t a bad book. Three stars out of five.