Copperhead (The Starbuck Chronicles) [Paperback]

Bernard Cornwell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 16, 1995 | Series: The Starbuck Chronicles (Book 2)

Copperhead was the name given to Northern sympathisers of the Confederacy, after a venomous species of North American snake. It is a name that sticks to Nathaniel Starbuck, a preacher's son who has run away from family, college and a foolish love affair, taking shelter in the Falconer legion.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the second volume of the Starbuck Chronicles, Cornwell surpasses his wonderful series featuring a war-crazed 19th-century British officer ( Sharpe's Devil , etc.) and even mainstream thrillers like Crackdown . Many believable, three-dimensional characters, including such historical figures as Jefferson Davis and George McClellan, walk, run, gallop and sometimes stumble through the Union's 1862 campaign to capture Richmond. Captain Nate Starbuck, who escaped from a fire-and-brimstone Boston preacher of a father to fight for the Confederacy in Rebel (which will be simultaneously released in paperback), here finds himself mistakenly jailed as a Yankee spy. Freed and sent across the lines as a double agent, he eventually returns to an uncertain future with the Confederates. Although it features more non-battle machinations--mostly tangled family relationships--than the Sharpe series, this novel also captures the "sheer joy" of war: Starbuck is "a soldier born to the dark trade." Cornwell masterfully depicts battle scenes and the dithering torpor of McClellan's campaign, but he also vividly portrays America's 19th-century religious fervor and Jefferson Davis's inaugural. Richard Sharpe's middle-aged son appears, as does a splendid villain aptly named de'Ath. This is a rollicking treat for Cornwell's many fans. $75,000 ad/promo.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

In the sequel to Rebel: The Starbuck Chronicles, Volume 1 (HarperCollins, 1993), Cornwell seeks to create a new hero as popular as his Richard Sharpe (from the author's Napoleonic series). Nathaniel Starbuck is a Northerner, the son of a Boston minister who becomes caught up in the South at the start of the Civil War and joins the Rebel cause, captivated more by the challenge and peril of war than the righteousness of either side. New-forged loyalties entice him to stay with the rebels even after his life and his family ties are put at risk when he must act as a spy to save his best friend from charges of espionage. Nate is a beguiling hero and Cornwell's balance of battle, romance, and historic scenes are neatly paced in this novel set against the 1862 battle for Richmond. Denise Perry Donavin --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins Publishers (January 16, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0006179193
• ISBN-13: 978-0006179191
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,105,454 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bernard Cornwell was born in London in 1944 - a 'warbaby' - whose father was a Canadian airman and mother in Britain's Women's Auxiliary Air Force. He was adopted by a family in Essex who belonged to a religious sect called the Peculiar People (and they were), but escaped to London University and, after a stint as a teacher, he joined BBC Television where he worked for the next 10 years. He began as a researcher on the Nationwide programme and ended as Head of Current Affairs Television for the BBC in Northern Ireland. It was while working in Belfast that he met Judy, a visiting American, and fell in love. Judy was unable to move to Britain for family reasons so Bernard went to the States where he was refused a Green Card. He decided to earn a living by writing, a job that did not need a permit from the US government - and for some years he had been wanting to write the adventures of a British soldier in the Napoleonic wars - and so the Sharpe series was born. Bernard and Judy married in 1980, are still married, still live in the States and he is still writing Sharpe.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining read, August 29, 2000

By 

Simon Jackson - See all my reviews

This review is from: Copperhead (Starbuck Chronicles) (Mass Market Paperback)

`Copperhead' is the second in the `Starbuck Chronicles' and it provides the reader with all we have to come to expect from author Bernard Cornwell. If you know Cornwell's writing, this novel will not disappoint, similarly if you have never heard of the name, I would encourage you make his acquaintance.

During the Civil War a Copperhead was generally held to be a Northerner who sympathised with the Southern cause. Within the pages of this book, although he is the son of a Boston abolitionist minister, Nathaniel Starbuck fights for the South. If you know your Civil War history - and that is no way a requirement for this novel - the action depicted within the pages of `Copperhead' takes us from Ball's Bluff near Leesburg in Virginia to Gaines Mill close to Richmond. However, the main part of the novel takes Starbuck away from the battlefield and into the arena of espionage and deceit. The book also gives us an insight into the insecurities of the Northern generals, in particular McClellan and his `spymaster' Allan Pinkerton.

There is no doubt that in Nate Starbuck, Cornwell attempts to create the heroics of Richard Sharpe (for those who don't know, Cornwell has written a whole clutch of novels about English rifleman Richard Sharpe who served both in India and the Napoleonic Wars). To some extend he has succeeded in this, although at times `Copperhead' lacks the pace of some of the Sharpe novels. Nevertheless, I enjoyed `Copperhead', it is in the main well written and informative and is without a doubt an entertaining read.

As a point of interest, although I'd recommend the reader to work his/her way through the series in order, it is not vital that you do this as each novel is self-contained.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A GREAT CIVIL WAR SERIES, April 18, 2006

By 

H. S. Wedekind "Mr. Weekend" (Pennsylvania, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Copperhead (Paperback)

I expected the Nathaniel Starbuck Chronicles to be like the Sharpe series, but I was initially disappointed when I started reading REBEL (Book 1 of the Nathaniel Starbuck Chronicles). It took about one hundred pages to introduce the characters and setting and I almost gave up. Lucky for me I didn't. The story took off and kept me enthralled throughout with Cornwell's excellent telling of the Battle of Bull Run. I continued to be entertained in COPPERHEAD, though the action and adventure were more concerned with espionage than the confusion and horror of the battlefield.

I don't understand how some reviewers could complain that Nate Starbuck was unlikable. He grew on me as I watched him stumble and fall and learn from his mistakes to become a better person and an able officer.

I was also happily surprised to see that Mr. Cornwell introduced us to French Colonel Patrick Lasan, the son of Richard Sharpe and Lucille Castineau. Battlescarred and wearing an eyepatch, Col. Lasan is a rogue and adventurer just like his father. I wish there had been more scenes with him and Nate in the book.

All in all, this is a great Civil War series. I hope Mr. Cornwell will write another book in the Starbuck Chronicles.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite of the bunch, May 23, 2002

By 

General Pete (SC) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Copperhead (Paperback)

As this book opens Starbuck is in trouble. He has just beem drummed out of the regiment on(false) charges of incompitance. So he travles to Richmond seeking help and too make matters worse he is frammed.

This is my favorite book in the serise. We are introduced to several new chacters
1. Gordon Swinyard(he grows on you)
2. Patrick Le'sawn(Richard Sharp's son)

I really enjoyed this book, you can always trust Cornwell to give you a good battle and to question your outlook on life as you are reading his books.