Bernard Cornwell, Sharpe’s Fury
$150.00
The author of the swashbuckling Sharpe series of adventures fighting the French during the Napoleonic Wars, Bernard Cornwell is a premier writer of historical military adventures. This is one of only 85 numbered and signed copies in a special binding with an appreciation by historical mystery writer Michael Jecks.
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Bernard Cornwell is the most prolific and best known author of historical adventure stories of his generation. His work is in the tradition of historical adventure established by G A Henty, C S Forester and his near contemporary George MacDonald Fraser. More than one critic has noted that the Sharpe adventures are like Hornblower on land. Richard Sharpe is a ranker and he uses his wit and charm to occasionally move in the higher echelons of society – much as a private detective does in say the Raymond Chandler mystery novels and his successors. This device allows Sharpe and his sidekick Harper to a kind of detective duo, to find things out, have some influence and to make alliances when favours need to repaid. But it is not just the machinations behind the scenes that Cornwell’s books are famous for; it is the action and rough and tumble on the battlefield (or sailing ship) that gets the adrenalin going.
Bernard Cornwell has written 21 books with Richard Sharpe and his colleagues serving against the French. It is not surprising that since 1997 Scorpion Press has issued six Sharpe books and that they have all sold out – except for this one! Sharpe has becom
e a hero figure and the Sharpe Appreciation Society frequently has many hundreds in attendance at its annual convention.
Sharpe’s Fury was issued in 2006 and was the last Sharpe issued by Scorpion Press to date. Fellow historical mystery writer and himself a prolific author, Michael Jecks provides the appreciation.
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Rating by “Kirkus Review” on April 4, 2012 :
“Captain Richard Sharpe sees action in the battle to keep Cadiz out of the hands of the Corsican Monster.
Basing his story again on historic military action, Cornwell continues the long-running Sharpe series (Sharpe’s Escape, 2004, etc.) with a side trip away from Portugal to southern Spain, where the British are helping the Spanish hold on to the port of Cadiz, their last scrap of sovereign territory. The Anglo-Spanish alliance is an uneasy one; there are plenty of Spaniards who remember when Britain was the enemy — just a few years before. Many believe the British have far-reaching plans to take over trade with Latin America and some so detest the Redcoats that they are willing to cut a deal with Bonaparte that would put a subservient Spanish monarch on the throne. Among the bitterest anti-Brits is a priest, Father Montseny, who has gained possession of letters that could be used to split the allies. They are love letters from the English ambassador to his Spanish girlfriend, used by Montseny both to blackmail the ambassador, younger brother of Lord Wellington, and to inflame the populace. Montseny intends to alter their content to suggest plans for British treachery against Spain. Sharpe, under the command of the stubborn and inimical Brigadier Moon, has just made a spectacular escape from the French, destroying a critical bridge on his way off the battlefield. Reeling from a last-minute bullet to the brainpan, he becomes involved in the struggle to regain the letters, working alongside some murderously tough Irish soldiers, his trusty Sergeant Harper and a gay diplomatic spy. The business with the letters leads him straight into the crucial battle at Cerro del Puerco, where the greatly outnumbered Brits, under a wonderfully heroic Scots general, face the French at the Battle of Barossa while the Spanish enjoy a picnic.
The confusion of battle is, unsurprisingly, confusing. But Cornwell has this stuff down cold, so it’s great fun even with all the smoke and noise”. Kirkus Review