Sharpe's Fortress [Import] [Hardcover]

Bernard Cornwell (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 301 pages
• Publisher: Harper Collins; First British Edition edition (1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0002256312
• ISBN-13: 978-0002256315
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,141,220 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

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another Sharpe Novel from Cornwell, November 6, 2000

By 

John W. Bates "jaydubyah" (Americus, Georgia USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sharpe's Fortress: India 1803 (Richard Sharpe's Adventure Series #3) (Hardcover)

Bernard Cornwell writes historical fiction, most of it in the old style of Forrester's Hornblower and F. Van Wyck Mason. Much of his work has been the story of Richard Sharpe and his adventures as a member of Wellington's British army during the Peninsula Campaign in the war against Napoleon's France. The character Richard Sharpe is an illegitimate orphan from London's workhouses who enlisted in the army one step ahead of prison and hanging. He served in Wellington's army in India and saved Wellington's life in a battle. As a reward he was made an officer. The Sharpe's Rifles series begins with Richard as a Lieutenant, and takes him through battles and hard-earned promotions to Waterloo. Eight of the novels were made into a BBC television series, which has been shown on US public television and which is available on cassette. Cornwell wrote one additional book in the series, filling in between two earlier ones, and one Sharpe novel which occurs well after the Napoleonic Wars. He then started a "prequel" series providing background and telling the story of Richard Sharpe in India. Sharpe's Fortress is the fourth in the series set in India. Richard is already commissioned, and is just beginning to feel the alienation from fellow-officers because he isn't a gentleman. He is also learning to deal with enmity from enlisted soldiers because he isn't a proper officer-a gentleman who gives orders by right. The series of battles which led to the defeat of the Mahrattas and established the British Raj in India is interesting history. This novel begins with the Battle of Argaum and ends with the Siege of Gawilghur, which broke the back of the Mahratta empire. Now Sharpe and Wellington will be heading back to England, and this reader hopes that Cornwell will have more exciting stories to cover the six years between the end of this book and the beginning of Sharpe's Rifles. Richard Sharpe is to the British Army what Horatio Hornblower was to the British Navy. And Cornwell's stories are wonderful reading.

28 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sharpe's Fortress Review, February 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Sharpe's Fortress (Richard Sharpe Adventure) (Audio Cassette)

The new installment in the Sharpe series is one of the strongest yet. Set around the backdrop of the bloody storming of Gawilghur in 1803, Sharpe once again fights arch-enemy Obadiah Hakeswill, and still gets back in time to win the battle for the British Army. Bernard Cornwell triumphs again.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sharpe marches on, January 19, 2001

By 

"jaykaye" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sharpe's Fortress: India 1803 (Richard Sharpe's Adventure Series #3) (Hardcover)

Although I prefer Bernard Cornwell's books on his hero, Richard Sharpe's daring exploits during the Peninsular War, this story--the third and final one set in India--about the young Sharpe's life as a newly made Ensign in the British Army is the best. In the previous book, Sharpe's Triumph, we learnt exactly how the then Sergeant Sharpe saved Sir Arthur Wellesley's (later Duke of Wellington's) life at the Battle of Assaye. Now, we see how Sharpe tries to adjust to the rank of Ensign that was thrust upon him for that heroic deed. All the elements of the other Sharpe novels are present here. The battles, especially the storming of the apparently inpenetrable fortress of Gawilghur, are excellently and vividly written. Sharpe is again with his back up against a wall in having to deal with both men and officers who resent that he's been "brought up", and facing his old nemesis, the twitching and sly Obadiah Hakeswill, once more. It's interesting to see this early relationship between protaganist and antagonist knowing how it plays out in the Peninsular portion of the series. Bernard Cornwell does take some creative license with history, but it is clear (as in all his books) how thoroughly researched it is. I always enjoy Cornwell's historical notes, and seeing what really happened. I'm looking forward to reading the next installment and seeing Sharpe marching on once more!