E-book extras: Bernard Cornwell On: The Origin of Richard Sharpe; Sharpe's Adventures; Sharpe's Trafalgar.

Denmark, 1807. Richard Sharpe is on a secret mission to Copenhagen to help protect the prized Danish fleet from Napoleon Bonaparte's ambitions. (Sharpe's Prey is the chronological sequel to Sharpe's Trafalgar, which is also available as a PerfectBound e-book.)

The Washington Post praises Bernard Cornwell: "Perhaps the greatest writer of historical adventure novels today."

The year is 1807, and Richard Sharpe is back in England, where his career seems to have come to a dead end. 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 could 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.

"A fine Father's Day gift. It delivers excitement so real one can smell the smoke. "Sharpe's Prey … is another victory in Cornwell's fine line of works of war."

 

"The direct heir to Patrick O'Brian."

 

"The Sharpe novels do for the early 19th century land campaigns what Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series does for the sea. … His books do what good historical fiction must do - bring the period to life, and teach the reader something without making him feel as if he is back in school. On both counts, Cornwell succeeds admirably."

 

"Consistently . . . Brilliantly realized . . . The Sharpe novels are wonderful."

 

"If the historical novel presently appears to be undergoing a renaissance, Cornwell, no less than Patrick O'Brian, is one of the reasons. … Sharpe's Prey gives us a vivid account of a little-remembered episode in history."

 

Bernard Cornwell is the author of the acclaimed multivolume series chronicling Richard Sharpe's heroic career in the British army -- in India, in Europe during the Napoleonic Wars, and on the battlefields of Chile. Cornwell is also the author of the novel Stonehenge: 2000 B.C. He lives with his wife on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

 

 

Sharpe's Prey by Bernard Cornwell
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