Just Finished Reading: Sharpe’s Escape by Bernard Cornwell (FP: 2004) [443pp]

Portugal, 1810. While politicians debated the prosecution, and the cost, of the war with France in Parliament they had sent the Duke of Wellington to Portugal to show the flag and, if necessary, leave from Lisbon in an orderly fashion. No one expected him to fight and no one certainly expected him to win against Napoleon’s generals. Wellington, however, had other ideas. He was certainly willing to fight – given the ground of his choosing but he knew that, with the forces at his disposal – both the known quantity of the British army and the as yet unknown one of the retrained Portuguese one – wouldn’t allow him too much latitude in any conflict. But he knew of the enemy’s weakness: their logistics. Their supply train was both long and arduous running as it did through territory occupied by local guerrilla bands. So through necessity the French, as much as possible, lived off the land. Wellington meant to stop that and that was were Captain Richard Sharpe and his men came in. Sharpe was tasked, along with every other British officer, to deny the enemy any chance of acquiring food and drink in their slow pursuit of the Allied forces as they slowly retreated to Lisbon. But, where there is retreat there is opportunity – at least for those with the guts and the avarice to take the chance of dealing with the desperate French army for the offer of gold. When Sharpe foils such a plan he makes a deadly enemy who dedicates himself to Sharpe’s painful and permanent demise.

This is my first Sharpe novel in FOUR years (how time flies!) and I’d forgotten just how entertaining they are. First there is the authors command [grin] of the battlefield. Not only does he understand the actual campaign itself (which translates mostly faithfully – with the usual artist licence, this is fiction after all) but the ‘tone’ feels right in the relationship between officers and men and the inevitable issues along the chain of command. Along with the, as ever, brilliant soldiers dialogue it quickly suspends disbelief and immerses you in the life of the novel. Admittedly now, after 16 of the Sharpe novels under my belt (and with a 17^th already in the review pile) it did feel, almost throughout the whole reading experience, like coming home. It was both a delightful and comforting experience. The two actual battles – a large one near the start and an element of a shorter one near the end – were both interesting and exciting as Sharpe (later on) got his ‘mojo’ back and cleverly kicked some French arse. But between the battles most of the book revolved around a confinement (hence the title of the book) followed by a return to the lines across hostile territory. Along that journey we are introduced (or reintroduced) to a Portuguese officer - Captain Jorge Vicente - who knew Sharpe previously and what has to be one of my favourite subsidiary characters in a Sharpe novel for a while – the English governess Sarah Fry who was a brilliant invention and I loved to see her go through the experience of confinement with Sharpe, Harper and Vicente, escape and grow throughout the rest of the journey to Lisbon. She most definitely made me smile (and often laugh out loud) every time she appeared on the page! Overall this was a cracking read. Being a war novel there is a deal of fighting, killing and dying and some of it is passing brutal – especially where Sharpe’s enemy Luis Ferreira is concerned – who is a NASTY piece of work -  but those who have read Sharpe before know that his enemies do not prosper, oh they do not…. I had a great deal of fun re-familiarising myself with Richard Sharpe and will endeavour to finish the series this year. Definitely recommended.