# SHARPE'S PREY (Book Review)



## Danjanou (27 May 2003)

London 1807, and an impoverished and over aged Second Lieutenant of the 95th Rifles considers drastic actions to overcome the equally drastic circumstances that he has found himself in. Sharpe‘s Prey is the latest in the chronicles of Richard Sharpe, soldier and rogue in the British Army during the latter half of the 18th and the first half of the 19th Century. 

Sharpe‘s fortunes have once more hit bottom. Two years earlier he arrived back in England from India with a slight detour to fight the French and Spanish at Trafalgar. 

In India he had a won a battlefield commission through an act of great heroism. He had also managed to acquire a kingâ€™s ransom, literally, in jewels and precious stones. On the voyage home he had met and fallen in love with a beautiful woman as well. That was two years ago though. 

At first things seemed to be going well for Sharpe. His new regiment, the 95th Rifles welcomed an officer with his wealth of combat experience. He and Lady Grace purchased a fine house and he began to enjoy his life. There was even a child on the way. 

Then disaster struck. Despite his experience, Sharpe still did not fit in with the other officers as he was not a Gentlemen but "up from the ranks." Resentment for his success was also evident by those who had yet to prove themselves in battle. He was soon relieved of his command of troops and reassigned to the position of Quartermaster, or as he put it "jumped up storekeeper." 

His relationship with the Lady Grace also served to distance them from the rest of society. It was unthinkable that a lady of her standing should take up with a common soldier and worse yet without the benefit of marriage. When Grace dies in childbirth, her family and their lawyers descend on Sharpe and soon after, their property and all their money is gone. 

Sharpe‘s Regiment marches off to war leaving him behind to "clean out the barracks." Unwanted by all, Sharpe decides to leave the army and make his way back to India. He made his fame and fortune there once, why not a second time. To do so though will take money and for Sharpe that is in short supply. 

He has even attempted to sell his commission to gain the funds he needs. However he discovers that because he earned his on the battlefield he is not free to sell it as other "officers and gentlemen" routinely do. Destitute and desperate Sharpe is about to embark on a course of action from which there will be no salvation. 

At the last moment one of his old commanders from India discovers him in one of London‘s seedier taverns. This man Major General Sir David Baird has been placed in charge of a secret mission to Denmark. For this mission to succeed it will require a man with certain skills. Sharpe has those skills. 

Sharpe accepts his new role, what choice does he have after all. He really does not want to leave the army any ways. Soon he finds himself in Denmark escorting another officer Captain Lavisser who is engaged in a secret plot involving the Danish Crown Prince and a chest full of English Gold Sovereigns. 

Sharpe is betrayed and soon finds himself alone and trapped in a hostile Copenhagen besieged by a British fleet and army. He now must use all his skills and luck, to survive, protect a lady, seek out a traitor, and if he can find a missing chest of gold. 

Once more Bernard Cornwell has provided us with an excellent tale of adventure and a worthy addition to this series. He has again taken an obscure campaign of the Napoleonic Wars and used it as the background for his favourite literary hero‘s latest exploits. 

In 1801 Britain and Denmark went to war briefly. This campaign is remembered by the British mostly for Admiral Nelson‘s famous naval victory over the Danish fleet. The battle where he supposedly put his telescope to his blind eye and therefore was unable to read the signal not to engage the enemy. 

Six years later the British were again fighting the Danes and this campaign has received less publicity both then and now. The reasons were simple. This war was longer and bloodier. 

The British sent a fleet to blockade Denmark and landed a small but powerful army. Elements of this army under general Arthur Wellesley, and 2/Lt Richard Sharpe, met and soundly defeated a much larger but poorly trained and equipped Danish army. 

Afterwards the British laid siege to Copenhagen and then bombarded the city when it failed to surrender. The bombardment devastated whole sections of the city. It also caused in excess of 1600 Danish civilians including woman and children. 

The reason the British were forced to resort to such action was simple, the Danish navy was in Copenhagen and the British wanted, no needed those warships. 

In 1807 Napoleon and the Tsar of Russia signed a treaty, the Treaty of Tilsit. A secret clause of this treaty stated that the French were free to seize the Danish navy for their own purposes. A large French Army was moved to the Danish border and poised to invade if the ships were not handed over. The Danes were of course never consulted regarding the terms of the treaty. 

The French needed these ships to replace those they had lost at the battle of Trafalgar two years previously. Without such a fleet they would be unable to invade England the only nation that still opposed them in Europe. 

The British for their part had to ensure that the fleet never fell into French hands. Ideally they would have preferred the Danes turned the fleet over to them for safekeeping, or seized it by force. Failing that it would have to be destroyed. 

Cornwall suggests that the British Government came up with a secret plan to bribe the Danish Crown Prince into turning over the fleet without a fight. Such an undertaking would be full of deception and peril and therefore just perfect for a cutthroat like Sharpe. 

The book is full of the touches that have made Cornwell famous. The meticulous attention to detail and the impeccable historical research evident in all the other books in the series are here too. As in the past, he has brought back characters from earlier, and later, works. Generals Wellesley and Baird are both here fresh from their triumphs in India. Sharpe‘s old comrades from Trafalgar Captain Joel Chase and the crew of HMS Pucelle are of course once again in the thick of the fighting. 

We are also introduced to the insufferable and pompous Captain Dunnet of the 95th Rifles. He and his second in command Lieutenant Murray will later figure in Sharpe‘s earliest adventures in far off Spain. 

A small group of Riflemen are also briefly introduced campaigning in the fields and villages of Denmark. Though they don‘t yet know it their futures will soon be intertwined with those of the over aged despised subaltern who fights alongside them. The names of Riflemen Cooper, Harris, and Harper are of course well known to anyone familiar with the series. 

Cornwall also shows us a different side of Sharpe this time round. While the man has always been ruthless he is more so here. In addition to that he is a callous and cruel man. The more noble qualities of his character have yet to emerge. The Richard Sharpe here is a desperate man capable of almost anything. It will take a long and bloody war to forge this raw character into the soldier and leader he will eventually become. 

Sharpe‘s Prey is a worthy addition to this great series in and of itself. It also serves to bridge the gap between the recent written novels in the series set in India and those original ones set in Spain and written over twenty years ago. One hopes though, and my knowledge of the Napoleonic Wars confirms, that there is room for at least one more adventure of Sharpe and his merry band of green jacketed rogues.


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