Sharpe's Devil: Richard Sharpe & the Emperor, 1820-1821 (Richard Sharpe's Adventure Series #21) [Paperback]

Bernard Cornwell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 7, 1999

An honored veteran of the Napolenic Wars, Lt. Col. Richard Sharpe is drawn into a deadly battle, both on land and on the high seas.

The year is 1820, and military hero Richard Sharpe has quietly passed the years since the Battle of Waterloo as a farmer. Suddenly, his peaceful retirement is disturbed when he and the intrepid Patrick Harper are called to the Spanish colony of Chile to find Don Blas Vivar, an old friend who has vanished without a trace—and who just happened to be the captain-general of Chile. Sharpe and Harper embark on a dangerous journey that carries them first to an unexpected interview with Napoleon, then on to Chile, a land seething with corruption and revolt. On land and at sea, Sharpe faces impossible odds, not only against finding Vivar, but against surviving in a time when tyranny rules, injustice abounds—Napoleon lurks on the horizon, itching to rekindle the world in a blaze of war.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Fans of the 10 previous Sharpe novels will be delighted to have the up-from-the-ranks ex-colonel back. Five years after Waterloo ( Sharpe's Revenge ), Sharpe, living quietly en famille in Normandy, is asked by Dona Louisa Vivar to find her husband, last seen as a Spanish captain-general in rebellious Chile. En route to South America, Sharpe can't resist stopping at St. Helena to meet Napoleon, who charms Sharpe and his ex-sergeant, Patrick Harper, then asks them to carry a gift to an English settler in Chile. When they arrive, they are told Vivar is dead, and the corrupt man serving in his place accuses them of trying to pass a message from Napoleon to Chilean insurgents. Sharpe and Harper are shipped out on a Spanish frigate, which is captured by rebels led by the eponymous devil, Scottish Lord Cochrane, formerly of the Royal Navy, still the legendary scourge of the Spanish fleet. The ebullient, daring Cochrane sweeps Sharpe along in a series of breathtaking adventures on land and sea that ends with a smashing, against-the-odds rebel victory and the solution to Vivar's disappearance. Readers will be dazzled by the rollicking plot, period color and the atavistic thrill of terrific battle scenes right out of a Turner painting.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In the 11th Richard Sharpe novel, our intrepid hero finds himself in the Spanish colony of Chile during its fight for independence in 1820-21. Hired by the wife of a Spanish nobleman to locate her kidnapped husband, the captain-general of Chile, Sharpe and friend Patrick Harper sail halfway around the world on a mission complicated by political intrigue and corruption. Series fans will find the usual strong characterization and action sequences, but some scenes, particularly the storming of the forts protecting the harbor of Valdivia, seem undeveloped and lacking in Cornwell's customary detail. Public libraries should purchase according to demand.
- Harold N. Boyer, Marple P.L., Broomall, Pa.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins (July 7, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060932295
• ISBN-13: 978-0060932299
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #39,731 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 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting historical account, April 17, 2002

By 

Fred Camfield (Vicksburg, MS USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sharpe's Devil: Richard Sharpe & the Emperor, 1820-1821 (Richard Sharpe's Adventure Series #21) (Paperback)

The plot assumes that ships could land passengers at St. Helena in 1820 to interview Napoleon. Such was not the case. The British fired on any unauthorized ship attempting to approach the island including, in one case, a ship in distress. Other than that, it is an interesting tale.

This is the last novel, chronologically, in the Richard Sharpe series. Sharpe is separated from his wife and living in France with his latest mistress and their two children. His shortage of money indicates his wife in England has everything he stole in Spain. When the Countess of Mouromorto shows up to hire Sharpe to find her missing husband in Chile, his mistress is very receptive to the sight of the money (needed to improve her farm). Sharpe finds himself on his way to Chile with his old friend Patrick Harper, and makes the aforementioned stop at St. Helena to see Napoleon.

Sharpe and Harper become involved, unwillingly, in the civil war raging in Chile between the Spanish royalists and the rebels under O'Higgins (supported by Lord Cochrane). Sharpe's fortunes take some twists and turns, as does the plot. The involvement of Lord Cochrane in Chile is described fairly accurately, including the action at Valdivia. Sharpe, of course, gets his share of the spoils. One can hope that Sharpe will fare better with his latest mistress than he has with earlier women in his life. Having Sharpe acquire bags full of loot always creates the possibility of further action (after all, Lord Cochrane did invite him to go along, and we know from history that Lord Cochrane later served in Brazil and Greece).

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Out of retirement for Mister Sharpe!, February 12, 2000

By 

Robert Douglas - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sharpe's Devil: Richard Sharpe & the Emperor, 1820-1821 (Richard Sharpe's Adventure Series #21) (Paperback)

It is 1821, six years after the Battle of Waterloo. Richard Sharpe, veteran of the French Wars, has made his home and family in Normandy. However, the sudden arrival of Blas Vivar's wife alerts this instinctive hero to trouble. It is up to Sharpe in locating General Blas Vivar and bring him back from revolutionary Chile. Seeking out a fattened Patrick Harper - formerly his Irish sergeant-major - the two friends make their way by ship to the distant shores of the New World. They stop off at St. Helena to pay their respects to an exiled emperor: once the Scourge of Europe, now a saddened, sickened old man, plagued by what his own greatness could have brought France. Despite his restrictions, and being a former enemy, Napoleon proves a charming, almost sympathetic host. Yet, from almost beginning to end, Sharpe is tricked into aiding a conspiracy that could drench all the Americas in blood and turmoil. I won't spoil it for you by elaborating. But I will mention that the last (chonologically!) Sharpe adventure proves most entertaining: with varied, believable characters, a strange land fully described, peopled by treacherous, corrupt, and deceitful officials who delight in toying with two foreigners on an honourable mission. The interesting aspect of this great plot is that Spain gradually becomes Sharpe's enemy. In particular, I loved the delicate interview with Napoleon; Bautista proved a most cowardly, cunning arch-villain, and the wild, courageous rebel Cochrane added extra spice to a gripping read. Sharpe is set on course for an insane pursuit to find the truth about Vivar - and escape the jaws of certain death!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Post-Napoleonic Wars Adventure, February 28, 2005

By 

A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sharpe's Devil: Richard Sharpe & the Emperor, 1820-1821 (Richard Sharpe's Adventure Series #21) (Paperback)

Six years after the end of the Napoleonic wars, ex-Rifleman Richard Sharpe toils on his French wife's farm in Normandy. Times are a little tough, so when the fabulously wealthy wife of a former Spanish comrade asks him to travel to Chile to find her missing husband, he can't refuse the gold that comes with the request. Naturally, Sharpe rounds up the now-rotund and prosperous tavern-keeper Patrick Harper before setting sail for South America. Their vessel is a Spanish one, ferrying a number of patronizing and foppish Spanish officers who are off to fight the Chilean rebels (who are led by the intriguing half-Spanish, half-Irish gentleman Bernardo O'Higgins). These Spaniards decide to take a minor detour to St. Helena to gawk at the imprisoned Napoleon, and of course Sharpe and Harper can't resist the chance to pay their own respects. The ex-emperor is by now rotting away in his dank mansion, with peeling wallpaper, a poor wine-cellar, and a large British garrison to keep him company. Treated like a curiosity in a zoo, he is disdainful of the Spaniards, but is intrigued by Sharpe and Harper, who are clearly fellow warriors. Cornwell has a lot of fun with this section, as the two old soldiers talk shop, honor each other, and Sharpe, with his customary naivite is unwittingly drawn into intrigue.

Eventually, the ship arrives in Chile, where Sharpe is told the man he is seeking, Captain-General Vivar, is actually dead. Of course, Sharpe is suspicious when a body can't be produced, and soon he and Harper have run afoul of the thoroughly evil Spanish Governor-General Bautista. Events entertainingly run their course, and soon the dynamic duo find themselves on the side of the rebels seeking to eject the Spaniards from Chile. They come under the wings of Admiral Cochrane, a Scottish Lord turned rebel seaman, and all around adventurer. Cochrane is a wildly daring and bold leader, a real life figure of such improbability that many readers will want to rush out and read one of the biographies about his exploits (The Audacious Admiral Cochrane by and The Sea Wolf by being two). Once in Cochrane's company, the action ratchets up until the climactic battle at Valdivia, where the ragtag rebel navy crushed the entrenched and more numerous Spanish defenders in an audacious action, heralding an end to Spanish rule. The rout also allows Sharpe to unravel the mystery of what befell Captain-General Vivar, and of course, exact retribution on the nasty Bautista.

This is indubitably a change of pace and setting from the regular Sharpe books, but a welcome one. As always, the military action is well described, there are evil villains, interesting supporting characters, and a heavy dose of vivid personages from history on hand. It's hard to imagine anyone making the nominally drab topic of Chilean independence come alive more vividly than Cornwell does here. There's a lot packed into this one, and Cornwell even manages to raise the specter of one of history's more interesting "what ifs" via an audacious plot. All in all, great fun.

PS. Anyone interested in St. Helena is advised to read Harry Ritchie's excellent travel book, The Last Pink Bits, which has a good section on how the island fares in modern times.