This is the fifth (chronologically...they were published in a different order) in Cornwell's series about Richard Sharpe, a soldier in the British infantry during the Napoleonic Wars. As the subtitle says, this episode occurs during the British invasion of Copenhagen in 1807, a seldom-remembered event. Denmark possesses the second most powerful navy in existence after Trafalgar destroyed the French fleet. The Danes are neutral in the wars and have taken their fleet and moored it up in Copenhagen's harbor, refusing to allow either side to use it.

As our story opens, the French have just concluded the Treaty of Tilsit with Russia, one whose provisions states that the Russians will turn a blind eye toward a French move to seize the Danish fleet. The British cannot afford to allow this and demand that Denmark moor the fleet in England for safe-keeping. The Danes refuse. In response, the British attack Copenhagen, shelling—tactics that presage the horrors of warfare a century later—the civilian population of the city with thousands of explosive and incendiary rounds in order to break the Danish will and force them to yield the ships.

Richard Sharpe is sent into this volatile situation in advance on a mission as a bodyguard for Captain Lavisser, who has orders to follow up on intelligence that the Danish Crown Prince is amenable to a bribe. Of course, the reader is aware from an opening scene that this intelligence was faked by Lavisser himself who is a French agent and intends to abscond with the £43,000 in gold while opening the city to the French. What follows is an exciting ride through intrigues, betrayals and battles. This book packs a bit more punch than the previous, where Sharpe's actions were somewhat constrained by being at sea.

The overall tone of the book is not as up-beat as some of the earlier stories. When Sharpe enters the book, we learn immediately that Grace died in childbirth and Sharpe is left rudderless: he cannot deal with her absence; he had spent his fortune on property for the family they were starting, only to lose it to her family's lawyers afterwards; he does not fit in as an officer because of his background and sees no future in the Army. The subplot of this story is Sharpe coming to terms with all of this, emerging at the end still sad, but able to let Grace go and throw himself back into life an infanty officer. In addition to Sharpe's personal troubles, new layers (darker layers) are added to his personality as he watches, appalled, the slaughter of the helpless Danes, full of contempt for those who make strategic policy.

A good read. ( )

Didn't care for this one nearly as much as its predecessors. I sympathized too much with the defenseless residents of Copenhagen, I suppose. Still, it was interesting learning about this little known episode. ( )

Love the Sharpe series of books as much as I loved the TV series! ( )

Lt. Sharpe lost a lot of my respect in the previous book (Sharpe's Trafalgar), but he regained a lot of it--perhaps all of it and even more!--in this book.

It starts off with Sharpe, mourning Grace's death, wanting out of the army. The only thing preventing him from doing so is the fact that he is unable to sell his commission. Since he was given his commission and had not bought it, as a 'proper' officer would have, he could not sell it back. The poor guy is utterly broke, due to legal issues with Grace's family after her death.

He finds his way back to the foundling home where he grew up, and he meets up with the Master. It gets ugly, of course, but Sharpe is protecting a little girl. He does have a soft spot in him, it seems. A likeable character, all in all, even though he can be a brute. But he knows he's a brute, and so does the author, so it's all good.

The story goes along and Sharpe finds himself in Denmark.

This was a really interesting bit... Cornwell showed England as the aggressors in this battle. Denmark was utterly neutral, but because it had a good fleet that France was eyeing, England wanted control of the Danish fleet before France got it. Denmark, being neutral, refused time and again... so the fleet had to be taken from it by force.

Sharpe was in Copenhagen when all this stuff happened, and he was torn between doing a duty that needed done and seeing the Danish people dying when they shouldn't have been. Good conflict, there. It gave Sharpe some extra layers in his character, too.

And... the Rifles make a cameo, including Patrick Harper! *squee* The next book, which I have already read but will probably read again, is Sharpe's Rifles, and it shows us Sharpe's inclusion into that group.

Good stuff. I was happy with this one. ^_^ ( )

#5 in the Richard Sharpe series.

It's 1807, and Sharpe is broke and bitter. After returning to England after the Batle of Trafalgar, he and Lady Grace Hale began living together. But the class difference between them led to social disapproval and shunning. When Lady Grace died in childbirth, leaving Sharpe stricken with grief, the family's lawyers descended like a pack of vultures and stripped Sharpe of all his property, leaving him destitute into the bargain. In addition, he still has not integrated well into the Rifles; the company captain relegates Sharpe to the menial and boring task of quartermaster.

Desperate, feeling that his fortunes can go no lower, Sharpe plans and carries out a daring robbery of a man he hates more than anyone else in the world--the head of the orphanage in which Sharpe grew up. Sharpe intends to take the money and desert from the army.

Hiding in a tavern to escape pursuit, Sharpe suddenly is accosted by Major General Sir David Baird, a Scotsman whose life he saved during the storming of the fortress of Seringapatam in India. Baird has been searching for Sharpe, since Sharpe is exactly the person that Baird thinks can handle an unusual and dangerous assignment: escorting Foot Gruads' Captain Lavisser to Copenhagen, Denmark on a mission to prevent the French from capturing Denmark's navy--by means of a bribe.

The errand seems simple, but Sharpe does not reckon on treachery. Trapped in Copenhagen and a hunted man, he enters a series of adventures that ends with the brutal bombardment of Copenhagen's civilian population by the British, possibly the first instance of deliberate warfare on a civilian population to achieve military ends.

In this installment is the first appearance of Lord Pumphrey, and effeminate-seeming but subtle and powerful member of the Foreign Office. Those who have read the Aubrey-Maturin series will remember Sir Joseph Blaine, Stephen Maturin's contact and a decent person. However, Blaine refers to other types in the Foreign Office, and Pumphreys is definitely one of the "others"--ruthless and remorseless behind a smiling and foppish exterior.

The bombardment of Copenhagen is described in detail and leaves nothing to the imagination in terms of the suffering of the civilian population.

As usual, Cornwell has done his research and history comes alive in another very well-written book in this excellent series. Highly recommended. ( )