Book Description
Richard Sharpe and the Expedition to Copenhagen, 1807
The year is 1807, and Richard Sharpe is back in England, where his career seems to have come to a dead end, despite his heroics in Britain's recent victory at Trafalgar. Loveless, destitute, and relegated to the menial tasks of quartermaster, Sharpe roams the streets of London, pondering a bleak future away from the army.
Then, out of the blue, an old friend invites him to undertake a secret mission -- the delivery of a bribe -- to the Danish capital, Copenhagen. Denmark is officially neutral, but Napoleon is threatening an invasion in order to capture the powerful Danish fleet, which would replace the ships France lost in its disastrous defeat at Trafalgar. The British, fearing such enhancement of French power, threaten their own preemptive invasion, and Sharpe, whose errand seemed so simple, is trapped in a web of treachery that will end only when the city, which thought itself safe, is subjected to a brutal and merciless bombardment.
About the Author
Bernard Cornwell is the author of the acclaimed Richard Sharpe series, set during the Napoleonic Wars; the Nathaniel Starbuck Chronicles, about American Civil War; the Warlord Trilogy, about Arthurian England; and, most recently, Stonehenge 2000 B.C.: A Novel and The Archer's Tale. Mr. Cornwell lives with his wife on Cape Cod.
Sharpe's Prey FROM THE PUBLISHER
The year is 1807 and Richard Sharpe's career in the British army seems to have come to a dead end. Following a victory in Sharpe's Trafalgar, he is loveless and destitute, relegated to the menial task of quartermaster.
He plans to leave the army, when the Honorable John Lavisser persuades him to join him on a secret mission to Copenhagen. Sharpe's mission—to deliver a bribe—is right up his alley, but when he arrives in Denmark he finds that his errand is much more serious. French agaents are everywhere and in the thick of enemy spies and fierce battle action, Richard Sharpe must once again prove his courage and determination.
About the Author:
Bernard Cornwell is the author of the acclaimed and bestselling Richard Sharpe series; The Nathaniel Starbuck Chronicles, set during the American Civil War; Stonehenge 2000 B.C.: A Novel, and, most recently, The Archer's Tale. He lives with his wife in Cape Cod, MA.
SYNOPSIS
PerfectBound e-book extra: "Bernard Cornwell On: The Origin of Richard Sharpe, Sharpe's Adventures, and *Sharpe's Trafalgar*." Plus: Become a member of the Sharpe Appreciation Society.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
The traditional military adventure yarn remains alive and well in the capable hands of Cornwell, as his up-from-the-ranks hero, Richard Sharpe, though stuck in the lowly role of regimental quartermaster, finds himself in the thick of the 1807 British campaign to destroy the Danish navy anchored in Copenhagen before the French can seize the ships and pose another invasion threat. As ever, the story starts fast, here with the murder of an English army officer in London by Captain John Lavisser a traitor working for the French and as vile a villain as any Sharpe has faced and scarcely lets up until Sharpe's final confrontation with Lavisser during the British bombardment of Copenhagen. Along with the swashbuckling action, Sharpe finds romance with the widowed daughter of Britain's top Danish agent, Astrid Skovgaard, who helps him get over the loss of Grace, the aristocratic young woman he met in his last outing, Sharpe's Trafalgar, but who died in childbirth. Much of the suspense hinges on whether Sharpe will quit the army and remain in Denmark, or persuade Astrid to return with him to England. Unlike Patrick O'Brian, Cornwell doesn't dwell on the details of early 19th-century life, writing in plain prose that neither evokes nor obviously violates period. This is the 18th installment in the Sharpe series (which now covers the years from 1799 to 1821, with a few small gaps). It's anyone's guess how many more are still to come, but Cornwell fans will welcome each and every one. (Jan. 1) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
The redoubtably prolific Cornwell, who has rounded out his revisionist Arthurian Warlord trilogy, filed four volumes in his Starbuck Civil War series, and now has 18 novels in his Richard Sharpe British Army series, plus other incidental novels about Stonehenge, etc., takes his hero Sharpe on the Expedition to Copenhagen of 1807. Sharpe, in the hip-hop fashion of Cornwell's chronology, has already fought in the Waterloo Campaign in 1815 (Sharpe's Waterloo), sailed to the New World in 1821 (Sharpe's Devil) and most recently observed Nelson at Trafalgar (Sharpe's Trafalgar, 2001) in 1805. Now, God's teeth, how can it be, Sharpe not only is without woman but also without coin. Although he wants most to sell his battlefield commission for ﾽ450, he's told battlefield commissions can't be sold. Thus he must accept a post as quartermaster-and in addition is roped by the Honorable John Lavisser to carry a secret bribe to Denmark. But all is not well in Denmark, not with the French lusting to take over the Danish fleet. There is something splendid about Sharpe's rugged leadership of British troops against the massed musketry of the Danes but not in the crippled children and widespread death of Danish civilians as the British bombard Copenhagen and set it afire. Rousing. At last count, 12 Sharpe novels had been filmed by PBS.
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