Redcoat [Import] [Hardcover]

Bernard Cornwell (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Michael Joseph (1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0718128494
• ISBN-13: 978-0718128494
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,616,555 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

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A realistic account, October 22, 2000

By 

Fred Camfield (Vicksburg, MS USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Redcoat (Mass Market Paperback)

The author is best known for his Sharpe series. This historical novel, in a slightly earlier time frame, is set in and around Philadelphia after the Battle of Brandywine. It is based on the British occupation of Philadelphia, and the various battles and skirmishes between the British Army and the American Army. It provides a realistic account, using both real and fictional characters, including the army's brutality towards the enemy (killing wounded enemy soldiers), the army's brutality towards its own troops, and the general pillaging of civilian property. There are a number of intertwined plots based on the actions and attitudes of different individuals. The key players other than General Howe, his mistress Lizzie Loring, his brother Admiral Lord Howe, Captain Andre, etc., are the fictional British Army private Sam Gilpin and his commander Captain Vane; the 20-year old Philadelphian Jonathan Becket, his sister Mrs. Crowl, and his uncle Abel Becket; and the young rebel Caroline from across the river. The plot drags a little at some points as the author establishes characters and situations, but overall is a good story. The story deals with the seamier side of life, with conflicting romantic interests, various people out to feather their own nests, and considerable violence. It is definitely not the type of whitewashed history you find in school textbooks.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Cornwell's best but still a very good novel., July 30, 2004

By 

Isackson "Reader/Gamer" (WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Redcoat (Mass Market Paperback)

The first thing that you will notice about Redcoat, and what could turn alot of readers off, is that the novel takes awhile to really get going. After finishing the book it's my opinion that Cornwell went a little overboard with the plot developement in the thinking that Redcoat would be the beginning of a series. Redcoat in many ways reminds me of Cornwell's "Rebel" , which also started off with a ton of plot developement (Which was necessary when you consider the other books in the series have a ton of typical Cornwell action (which is what i find the most appealing about Cornwell's writing)

After the first 150 pages Redcoat really starts to take off. The second half of the novel is definately some of Cornwell's best. While there isn't as much of the typical huge battles the story and the action are top notch despite that. (Most of the story takes place during the British occupation of Philadelphia)

Redcoat is definatly a worthy read as well as being worthy of a sequel.

Don't miss it.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, But Worthy of Another Effort, January 13, 2004

By 

D. Eaton (North Chili, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Redcoat (Mass Market Paperback)

As both an avid reader and a Revolutionary War reenactor, it was with great anticipation that I first sought out, then read Bernard Cornwell's "Redcoat" not that long ago.

Although I had not read any of his "Sharpe's" series - based upon the Napoleonic-era British Army - the fact that Cornwell has been so well-received as a historical novelist gave me hope going into this book that he would capture the period of history with which I am so familliar. Now, having read "Redcoat," it is with slight disappointment that I must report only a moderate success.

Cornwell enfuses his novel with a contemprary style of historical fiction writing seen more recently in the works of Jeff Shaara (who recently wrote his own two-volume Revolutionary War series), which is to say that the reader experiences a "you-are-there" sense of history, meeting legendary characters as if meeting old friends on the street.

Throughout "Redcoat," we meet such famous historical figures on a regular basis - Sir William Howe, commander of His Majesty's Army in North America; Sir Henry Clinton, his successor; Rebel General Charles Lee; and, in a knowing, insider's wink at history, we even see Captain John Andre and Peggy Shippen introduced to each other, igniting a relationship which will later result in ignomy for both of them (but that, of course is another story).

Cornwell's description of battle sequences, too, are unparalleled for their realism and accuracy and include enough historical detail (such as the 40th Foot "going to ground" in the Chew House at the Battle of Germantown) to delight any student of the era.

Where Cornwell's effort falls short, however, is in his portrayal of his fictional characters - not in his peripheral figures, which appear as very real throughout, but his main protagonists, Sam Gilpin, Jonathan Becket, Martha Crowl and Caroline Fisher. Crowl is the best of all of these, as the righteous Patriot sympathiser trapped in British occupied Philadelphia. It is the pulp love triangle that develops between Gilpin, Becket and Fisher which comes across as flat in the otherwise worthy "Redcoat." Occupying much of the latter part of the book, this storyline threatens to sink the novel in a Ben Affleck-Pearl Harbor-like quagmire.

Still, there is much to recommend in "Redcoat," both for the historical enthusiast as well as for the fiction lover. Being more disposed to the former aspect myself, I could only have wished for more history and less pulp fiction, but that is more a matter of personal taste. Perhaps because this was one of Cornwell's earlier efforts - and first non-Sharpe novel - it seems a bit rough around the edges. It would be nice to see him revisit this era in future work.