Lieutenant Richard Sharpe and a detachment of Riflemen are cut off from the rest of the army and surrounded. Their only hope of escape is to accept the help of the Spanish, but this assistance comes at a price: to join the assault on the holy city of Santiago de Compostela, held by a strong French force. There is little Sharpe would enjoy more.

Comparison: Simon Scarrow, Saul David, Patrick O'Brian
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Synopsis

Richard Sharpe and the French Invasion of Galicia, January 1809. Britains's forces are retreating towards Corunna during a bitter winter, with Napoleon's victorious armies in pursuit.

Reviews

Praise for Bernard Cornwell and the Sharpe series:

'We cheer Sharpe on. He has a kind of angry courage, an inability to stay away from a fight, and a permanent inner battle between his inclinations and his sense of duty. Wellington wound up a dangerous spring on the day he raised Sharpe from the ranks. It's our magnificent gain'
Terry Pratchett

'Sharpe is the epitome of a nineteenth-century, romantic working-class hero. Cool, flash and fragrant ... Escape and enjoy'
Daily Express

'Cornwell describes military action brilliantly. He evokes all the sights and sounds and smells while managing to describe the fluctuations of the battle with enough vim to keep you in suspense!The Sharpe novels are wonderfully urgent and alive'
Daily Telegraph

'Cornwell has maintained a marvellously high standard throughout the series!brilliantly lucid and compellingly exciting'
Evening Standard

'Bernard Cornwell knows his man, knows how to harness his qualities to the services of good fiction, and does not miss a trick!Sharpe and his creator are national treasures'
Sunday Telegraph

'The insubordinate, sarcastic and oversexed Richard Sharpe returns!Cornwell delivers the usual mix of strategy and strength -- classic battle scenes and plenty of fisticuffs'
Daily Mirror

About the Author

Born in Essex in 1944 Bernard Cornwell was adopted at the age of six weeks by two members of a strict fundamentalist sect called the Peculiar People. He grew up in a household that forbade alcohol, cigarettes, dances, television, conventional medicine and toy guns. Not surprisingly, he developed a fascination for military adventure. As a teenager he devoured CS Forester’s Hornblower novels and tried to enlist three times. Poor eyesight put paid to his dream, instead he went to university to read theology. On graduating, he became a teacher, then joined BBC’s Nationwide, working his way up the ladder to become head of current affairs at BBC Northern Ireland, then editor of Thames News. In 1979, his life changed when he fell in love with an American.   "Judy couldn’t live here, so I gave up my job and moved to the US. I couldn’t get a green card, and for 18 months the only thing I could do was write novels." The result was his first book about 19th century hero, Richard Sharpe, Sharpe’s Eagle. In addition to the hugely successful Sharpe novels, Bernard Cornwell is the author of the Starbuck Chronicles, the Warlord trilogy, the Grail Quest series, the Alfred series and standalone battle books Azincourt and The Fort.   Bernard Cornwell owns houses in Cape Cod and Florida and two boats. Every year he takes two months off from his writing and spends most of his time on his 24 foot Cornish crabber, Royalist. More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation