Sharpe Series by Cornwell

Greetings! I've been a member of this wonderful website for two weeks now and I love it. I'm a big fan of the Sharpe series written by Bernard Cornwell. Only one I haven't read yet is Sharpes Prey. I'm also a fan of the Sharpe tv series. Would love to chat with others about the books, etc.

Good topic, duchess. I've read about half a dozen of the Sharpe books. What is your favorite? I especially enjoyed Sharpe's Fortress - the description of the siege of Gawlighur alone makes the book worth reading.

Howdy Dougwood57 ... Lovely hearing from another fan of the Sharpe series. This website and all its features are great. What is my favorite? Hum, gosh, that is a toughie, as I have many favorites. Off the top of my head I'd say Sharpe's Sword and Sharpe's Revenge. I especially enjoy the rapour Sharpe has with Harper and Major Hogan. I'm also into history and the Georgian, Empire through Regency period is fascinating. What started you into reading the series? For me, it was watching the Sharpe series on DVD with the brilliant Sean Bean.

My addiction to Sharpe came about back in February 2006 when my oldest son requested that I send him books similar to the Hornblower Series. I found the Sharpe Series in a reference book titled Genreflecting - "if you enjoy reading Hornblower then you will enjoy Sharpe" type of recommendation. I sent him Sharpe's Tiger, Sharpe's Eagle, and Sharpe's Rifles to begin with -- he quickly requested the entire series. I had heard about Sharpe previous to finding them in Genreflecting; however, I did not think they would be my "cup of tea." My son wrote and begged me to read them - he said that I would love them. For some reason I resisted - finally in June I gave-in so that I could have intelligent "book conversations" with him about the series. Naturally, I became addicted and went on to read the entire series -- and then all of Bernard Cornwell's works. I read the Sharpe Series out of chronological order. I actually enjoy the way that Mr. Cornwell went back and filled in the gaps. It gives the series a complexity and nonlinear quality that I find intriguing. It is as if there are two Series -- and it is fun to link up the "newer" books with the older ones. I do not watch much TV or go to the cinema, so I have not seen them on the screen.

I had read all the Patrick O'Brian naval series with Aubrey and Maturin and was looking for more historical fiction from the same era. I'm not sure where I came across Sharpe - somewhere on the Internet - but I've been a fan since then. I also have enjoyed the Saxon Stories - the third book Lords of the North came out this week.

Good Evening ... So far I haven't tackled the other Bernard Cornwell books in his treasure trove, just the Sharpe series. Sadly, I'm not much into naval stories, but anything on the Napoleonic era works for me. I also have a passion for books regarding WW1, Chrusades, Regency England and ancient times pre-Jesus.

Is your oldest son in college? Would seem like a natural request of a son to a parent. You picked good choices for first reading on Sharpe for your son. Oh my, you purchased the whole series for him? Mon dieu! I started reading my first Sharpe book "Rifles" in January 2005 during a blizzard here in NYC. Over the months that followed they were the only books I read. Starting with Rifles and ending with Devil. Last year I decided it was time to go back to the beginning and read the first five. Sharpes Tiger was fantastic! One learns how Sharpe got the flogging and the scar on his face, as well as the individuals he encounters along the way. I totally agree with your assessment of the series. I'm hoping that Mr Cornwell will have one more Sharpe story up his sleeve within a few years. Love me Sharpie!

I very much enjoyed the Hornblower Series by C. S. Forester; however, they are the only naval fiction series that I have read. Penguin Canada and Penguin UK (unfortunately not US) have released new editions of the Hornblower books and Bernard Cornwell wrote the new forewords for them -- they are marvelous! The Hornblower series inspired him to write and he based the Sharpe series on the Hornblower books. I like to think that Forester is pleased!
As for my son, he graduated about 2 years ago. He was overseas when he requested the Sharpe books and -- Non! Non! I purchased used paperbacks to ship. He read Biggles W. E. Johns in elementary school, Hornblower in secondary, and Flashman George MacDonald Fraser at university (along with thousands of other books).
Hmmm --- hard to say which is my favorite Sharpe .....Eagle, Sharpe's Sword, Revenge, Honour, .....
BTW -- I have lovely memories of The Strand bookstore in NYC .....hope it is still there!

The Flashman series by George Macdonald Fraser is also high on my list. Bit different from Sharpe or Patrick O'Brian; Fraser's books are irrreverent sendups of the Victorian era told in the context of some of the great adventures of the British Empire.

Another one to look at is the series by John Biggins starting with A Sailor of Austria, which despite the title is not sea series.

Thanks for the recommendation, quartzite. Biggins looks like a natural for anyone who likes Flashman.

Lovely hearing back from you. I hope all is okay with your son being overseas? Is he in the military or does it have to do with business? And he sounds like quite an avid reader. smiling Its great when parents encourage their childs love of reading from an early age. BTW, isn't C.S.Forester the one who wrote "A Room with a View" or am I thinking of someone else? Good choices in your "favorite Sharpe". I never get tired in re-reading parts of those books, as it feels like visiting an old friend. In answer to your question, yes, The Strand is still very much in its ole location south of Union Square. Hurray! Sadly, the Coliseum Bookstore closed its doors. :-(

dutchess, good to hear that The Strand is still going strong; however, I am sad to learn that Coliseum Bookstore is closed. E. M. Forster authored A Room With A View, Howard's End, A Passage to India, and Where Angels Fear to Tread - all ones that I enjoy, but it has been awhile since I read him. C.S. Forester did the Hornblower series.
Do you have any favorite Sharpe characters (other than Sharpe himself of course)? I can't pin down just one - Bernard Cornwell does a grand job of portraying them Harper, Hogan, Teresa, Lucille, Narin, Lady Grace ( I hope that someday Cornwell writes a short story about the few months that Sharpe and Lady Grace had together in England), Sarah Fry, Cornelius Killick, and on and on and on.....

One of the wee things that bothered me about the TV series, is that, many characters are short lived in it. Where as in the books they are with Sharpe through to Waterloo. Characters such as D'Alembord and Harry Price. Of the female leads in the books; I am partial to Theresa, Lady Anne and Lucille. Don't give away much on Lady Grace, as I haven't read Sharpes Prey yet. Speaking of Sharpe, he is naturally my fav and also Harper. The TV series shows more of the Rifles or choosen men, where as the books have some but not enough. My bad in confusing Forster with Forester. I'm more familiar with the former and not really the latter. On sunday I watched Toby Stevens play Mr Rochester in "Jane Eyre" on Masterpiece Theatre. It was good, but not as good as Timothy Daltons version back in early 1980s. Seeing it again on TV brought about the urge to reread parts of the book by one of the Bronte sisters.

Duchess58, let me know when you finish Sharp’s Prey. It is enjoyable, has a different setting than the other books, and we are introduced to some new characters. Going off topic: A friend of mine is a devoted Sean Bean fan and she has encouraged me to watch the Sharpe Series – I have not given in as yet -I just do not want to give up the mental image that Cornwell has created in my head. And I am afraid that I will be disappointed in the screen adaptations (my friend said that Sharpe’s Gold was terrible and did not follow the book). I did see Sean Bean in Clarissa, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Bravo Two Zero, and Anna Karenina (all viewed several years ago). He is an excellent actor and adapts himself to the character that he is portraying rather than vice versa (which IMHO is the difference between a true actor and a movie star). I love the theater and would love to see him on stage. Oh and I also saw him in Henry VIII as Robert Aske – again he was excellent. Would like to watch Troy (I imagine he is grand as Odysseus!); however, I do not care for Brad Pitt – and I'm not sure if it is worth giving up ~two hours of reading time. Hmmm, Touchstone is not responding properly so I'll try to edit later.

Bookbesotted ... I haven't purchased Sharpe's Prey yet and plan to next payday. Sean Bean does a good portrayal of Sharpe in the TV series. True, he doesn't "look" like Sharpe in the books, but he does seem to capture the "essence" of Richard Sharpe. After seeing the TV series and then starting on the books; I heard Sean's voice in my head as Sharpe, but saw Cornwell's character quite clearly. I like the TV series choices for Harper, choosen men, Theresa, Hogan and even Hugh Fraser as Wellington. Didn't like how they treated Price, D'Alemborg nor Leroy in TV series. If TV did a proper version of the books the series would be longer than 2 hours per book. I agree with your friend, the TV version of Sharpes Gold is terrible. BTW, the battle scenes in the TV Sharpe series are pretty decent. If and when you do see the series, I'd like to read your opinions. Yes, I agree with your assessment of Sean Bean the actor. He is a true actor and never comes across as a "hollywood" type. He seems so down to earth in his interviews. I've also seen Clarissa, Lady Chatterleys Lover, Henry VIII and Troy. He was brilliant in all of them. The film TROY does have some memorable moments and they do include Sean as Odysseus. Eric Bana is good as Hector and Peter O'Toole is delightful as King Priam. Like you, I do not care for Brad Pitt.

Duchess58, I just read Sharpe’s Enemy again, that is another of my favorites -- I very much enjoy reading food descriptions and Bernard Cornwell does a fine job describing Sharpe’s Christmas dinner. That is a shame that the series does not do justice to those characters -- I also like Leroy, Price and D’Alemborg – and also Fredrickson, Lady Camoynes, and Nairn (I have to stop now –there are so many of the characters that I have grown fond of -- I really cannot recall -- at least in recent memory-- that I have ever been so fond of so many characters in any other series). Please let me know when you have finished Sharpe's Prey - I would like to discuss that one with you.

Good Evening Bookbesotted ... I quite agree with you that Cornwell always does a fine job in describing army camp life, morals, food, drink, location, etc. I too am also partial to Fredrickson and Nairn. Even tho Lady Camoynes does help Sharpe in 'Regiment' I never quite took to her character. Yes, I quite agree, not often a series comes along were I like so many characters. Each book is such an adventure. Still haven't purchased "Prey" and hope to very soon. Do take care and a pleasure chatting with you about Sharpe.

Good Morning Bookbesotted ... Just an FYI, I finally purchased Sharpe's Prey this past weekend and will start reading it this coming Easter weekend. Check back in a week or so afterwards for my "feedback" on the novel. Take care. . . .peace is the way.

You can get a lot more on the background to the Sharpe TV series by visiting the Riffleman Harris web site. http://www.riflemanharris.co.uk/index.htm. Interesting site but he really hasn't done any marketing so it is not very well known.

Hiya Pambarry ... Lovely to hear of others who know of Jason's website. Thanks for the link. I actually knew about it via The Compleat Bean website, which is updated and hosted by Nona. I really like Jason Salkey's website Rifleman Harris and someday I'll purchase all those DVDs on "behind the scenes" of Sharpe tv series. I have the whole wonderful series on DVD box set from the UK and the recent Sharpes Challenge. Plus, I recently ordered the CD of the tv series music. Yep, I'm a Sharpe fan, tho only since 2003. Yeah, I know, better late than never. :-)

I also really liked the Sharpe series but didn't like the TV series. Sean Bean is a good actor but can't do London accents so the TV Sharpe comes from Sheffield whereas the book Sharpe is a Londoner. The production was pretty woeful & the costume designer should have been shot.

There are other series about this period.

Perhaps the best is the one by Richard Howard featuring Alain Lausard - it starts with "Napoleon's Sons" & there are about 6 books. The hero is a French Dragoon.
There are also the ones about Matthew Hervey, a British Light Dragoon, written by Alan Mallinson. The first one is called "A Close Run Thing" & is based around the battle of Waterloo (the title is what Wellington said of the battle). The others are about the ensuing years & take the hero all over the world.

There are numerous series about naval heroes. The Hornblower & Aubrey ones you've mentioned but also the Bolitho series by Alexander Kent (more swashbuckling) & the Ramage series by Dudley Pope - and many others.

For individual books about the period. I would recommend 2 - Seven Men of Gascony by RF Delderfield & An Infamous Army by Georgette Heyer (this is definitely not a bodice-ripper)

I like Georgette Heyer, she's a good romance writer. I didn't know she wrote other genre types. I'll check it out on Amazon.com Thanks for the heads up.

I appreciate and respect your comments and opinions. I disagree regarding the Sharpe tv series ... I thoroughly enjoyed it and thought it pretty good. When reading the books I see a dark haired, blue eyed rough, but handsome man as Sharpe. What the series did was attract more interest in the books and I'm sure Bernard Cornwell is happy about that.

I'm not really into anything naval and pretty much stay away from those type of books.

You're quite right - anything to get more readers can 't be all bad.

But being a Londoner ...

And also a very keen Napoleonic buff I just can't see why they couldn't get the uniforms right - there's enough information out there.

duchess - I meant also to say - give the Aubrey series a go even though you may not be into naval stuff (and ignore the film - though I quite enjoyed it it didn't come anywhere near capturing the essence of the books).
O'Brian manages to portray, in a very realistic way, the life & times of the late 18th century.

Are you referring to ALL the uniforms of the Sharpe TV series or just certain ones? I've read that the film production got the weapons correct and I thought the costumes too. I'd very much like to hear your views on the costumes for the series. BTW, do you know about the Sharpe Appreciation Society in the UK? I've been a member for about 2 years and very much enjoy their quarterly newsletters.

Going from memory a lot of the uniforms were accurate - especially the Brit ones. The obviously inaccurate ones were the ubiquitous French cavalry. I can't remember if they were identified as a cavalry type but in every episode they were always in a lightish blue. The most common French cavalry fulfilling most of these roles would have been Dragoons who wore green with a coal-skuttle helmet.
The uniform shown could just be a regiment of light dragoons that I don't recognise but by god they got about a bit!
That, a lot of the acting (which was ordinary at best), the battle scenes, the fight scenes & the change of Sharpe's background (and surely his upbringing in a London 'rookery' was what defined him) spoilt it for me.
I'll still watch them again but they are just an action tele-movie &, IMHO, not a patch on the books.
I'm not aware of the that particular Association but I know of others (or did know) & was a member of the Napoleonic Association, here in Oz, for a number of years.

Good Morning Rifleman! Hum, yes, your right about the French uniforms. That did perplex me from time to time. The tv series did have a limited budget, so maybe their cutting back abit in "certain things" seemed logical to them. Though I'm sure the French may have been abit miffed. Sean Bean wasn't the original choice for Sharpe and another actor was doing the filming when he broke his leg. The original actor, from a few pix, did look abit more like the books Sharpe. So the change in background was made to suit Sean's Yorkshire accent. Sean did a lovely job with the role and worked at bringing the essence/core of character to the screen. I agree, some of the acting by others wasn't that good, but most of the scenes were shot on first take and with little rehearsal. The books are far more exciting and I'm 1/4 of the way into Sharpes Prey and so enjoying it. Thank you again for your thoughts on uniforms etc.

Greetings Bookbesotted ... Just wanted to let you know that I started "Sharpes Prey" recently and about 3/4s of the way through. Its pretty darn good and enjoying it so far. Didn't realize this book, in the series, was written in 2002. That explains why there is brief mention of Harper and some of the riflemen. This is also the third book, in the series, were Lord Pumphrey's is in attendance. Never liked this character in the other two books. Sharpe's grief over the loss of Grace really touches ones heart. And its nice seeing him spend some time with Captain Chase. I like his character. Will have more of a proper review as soon as I finish it. I agree, there are so many likeable characters in the whole Sharpe series. Be peace..........

Hello Duchess, glad to hear that you are enjoying Sharpe’s Prey – let me know what you think of the conclusion. Lord Pumphrey can be wickedly amusing; however, overall I find him insufferable. I am currently reading Jack Absolute by C.C. Humphreys, working my way through Cynthia Harrod-Eagles Morland Dynasty series (I am reading # 16 out of 29), A Farewell to France by Noel Barber, and Africa: A Biography of the Continent by John Reader - I do plan on rereading the Sharpe series in proper sequence. Take care and keep in touch.
(Touchstone is not responding to Sharpe's Prey).

Hello Bookbesotted ... I finished "Sharpes Prey" on the 21st and very much enjoyed the book. From reading other Sharpe books, I knew that Pumphrey had a hand in Astrids demise. Didn't know it also involved her father. Yes, Pumphrey's is amusing at times, but overall as you say insufferable. I've never been to Copenhagen and it sounds like 50% of the city had to be rebuilt after this bombardment by the Brits. A part of history I knew nothing about and I see why, as it involved the deaths of innocent women and children. The Wapping section of London sounds like Five Dials section in lower Manhattan during the early 19th century. Wonder if London had a Bill the Butcher ... hum ... yeah ... Jack the Ripper. Glad Sharpe got his revenge on Major Lavatory. Charming on the outside and rotten to the core on the inside. The pace of the book, as always, runs very well and excellent description of action, etc. I had no qualms with the story. Over the past weekend I read parts of Revenge, Waterloo and Devil. What was your assessment of Prey?

If you like the Sharpe series you might enjoy, The Sharpe Companion, The Early Years, by Mark Adkin. Mr. Adkin is a retired British military officer and writes about the actual battles Sharpe participated in. He also writes extensively on life in India not only in the British army but also the EIC army and the various Indian armies.

The book ends with Sharpe's Prey. I am looking forward to a book on the later years.

Ha just discovered this thread bet it's run out now hasn't it? I love the Sharpe books found out about them via the series on DVD, don't have a telly. My favourite characters apart from Sharpe are Hagman, Harper and Harris, John Tams who played Hagman is also a very talented folk singer, seen him twice in last couple of years, he's brilliant.
Favourite book is Sharpes Devil where he gets together with Harper again and I think that should have been the single TV episode rather than the shambles they made t'other year.
Love the Patrick O'Brian books too which got me into this type of fiction first.

Yes, I was interested to read an article of an interview with John Tams some time ago. Tams says he uses folk song influences in all the music he wrote for Sharpe and is descended from Travellers in either Cheshire or Derbyshire - can't remember exactly. That's where he got his folk music talent from.

"Sharpe creator Bernard Cornwell apologises to fans for no new novel in 2024.

"Bestselling writer Bernard Cornwell, author of hit historical series Sharpe and The Last Kingdom, has apologised to fans for not delivering a new book this year for the first time since 1980, after having 'the year from hell'. ...

"On his Facebook page, Cornwell, who was born in London but now lives in the US, wrote: 'For those of you who were looking forward to Sharpe's Storm I want to provide a brief explanation.'

"He said that 2024 had been 'the year from hell' and added: 'I won’t go into detail, but just say there have been too many surgical procedures, chemotherapy sessions, dentists and hospital visits, and those things play merry hell with a writing schedule.' ...

"'I knew the events of Storm fell between Regiment and Siege and, reluctant as I am to re-read my books, I did glance through Sharpe's Siege to check some facts and, to my horror, realised that the grand finale I had planned for Sharpe in Storm was impossible because it would overlap with events in Siege. He might be a peerless hero, but even Sharpe cannot be in two places at once.' ...

"'I'm happy to say that I have found a solution which will make Storm a much better book, but that solution demands intensive research, new chapters and a monumental rewrite of the existing chapters. ..."

(Guardian, 2024-08-24. See the article for the full story).