# SHARPE'S ESCAPE (Book Review)



## Danjanou (29 May 2005)

On a ridge near the town of Bussaco in Portugal a thin line of redcoats and brown jackets of the Anglo-Portuguese Army await the onslaught of the invading French forces. In a bloody and brutal battle the Anglo-Portuguese battalions repulse the attacks of the French columns and win the day.

Then Sir Arthur Wellesley their commander retreats into the night abandoning the positions he has held so tenaciously. The French forces under Marshal Massena quickly move forward and capture the nearby town of Coimbra, which they then sack.

Wellington has a grand strategy though. Rather than just defeat this invading French Army and send it back across the border to Spain, he intends to totally destroy it. He has ordered all food stuffs to be either confiscated or destroyed. As he retreats he will lure the French further and further into a barren countryside that cannot feed them.

Eventually he intends to stop just before Lisbon the capital. Here behind the massive newly completed fortifications of the Lines of Torres Vedras he will make his stand. These new fortifications built in absolute secrecy even from the British and Portuguese Governments are impregnable. The French army, unable to advance , starving, and harassed by Portuguese guerillas will be forced to withdraw a beaten and spent force.

Captain Richard Sharpe and the Light Company of the South Essex Regiment are part of Wellesley's plan. Sharpe was in fact the man who stole the gold from the French that was used to pay for the building of the fortifications. Now he and his men are involved in ensuring that no food or supplies are left for the French to find.

At the ridge at Bussaco they will also play a crucial part in defeating the French assault columns. After the battle though Sharpe is "temporarily" relieved of his command to allow a new and politically connected officer the opportunity to experience command. Demoted to the role of unit Quartermaster he is sent into Coimbra to seek quarters for the retreating regiment.

Here Sharpe stumbles across a plot by a corrupt Portuguese merchant and his traitorous brother an officer on Wellesley's staff. They have amassed enough food to feed the entire French army and are intent on selling it to them thus ruining the elaborate trap laid by the British.

Abandoned by his own retreating army and surrounded by his enemies in town being pillaged by a starving invading army Sharpe and a small band of trusty followers including the redoubtable Sgt Patrick Harper must destroy the supplies and expose the plot.

What follows is a mad running battle through the sewer and roof tops of Coimbra. Once escaping the city itself there is a harrowing journey across the hills of Portugal evading both French soldiers and bands of Portuguese guerillas. Then a sea chase down the Tagus River to a final climax at an isolated and besieged farmhouse. Along the way there will be damsels in distress that need rescuing and Sharpe will regain command of his company.

With Sharpe's Escape, Bernard Cornwell returns his famous literary hero to the Iberian Peninsula the scene of his greatest exploits. This latest novel like the previous one Sharpe's Havoc begins to fill in the gaps in the story of Richard Sharpe he began many years ago with Shape's Eagle.

This adventure chronologically comes right after Sharpe's Gold, the tale of how Sharpe stole the funds needed to finance Torres Vedras.

Cornwell's success with this popular series, aside from being able to craft a well written and exciting tale, is twofold. First is his ability to weave his characters almost effortlessly with real historic characters and to make those figures form history come to life. Sharpe, Harper, their new friend and ally Captain Jorge Vicente of the elite Portuguese Cazadors and Ferragus, the newest in along line of villains, all interact with the likes of Wellesley and Massena.

Secondly is the absolute attention to details. Cornwell meticulously researches the battles he bases his novels on and even visits them, walking the ground that his characters fight over. This attention to details shows itself throughout the novel so much to that one almost feels like you are there stuck in a Roman built catacomb far below the streets of Coimbra or standing in the skirmish line on the ridge at Bussaco watching the relentless advance of the blue clad columns under their gilded eagle.

Fortunately for those who are fans of the series there are many battles and tales that Cornwell passed over when he first began telling the tales of Richard Sharpe and his long march through â Å“over the hills and far away.â ? This means that there will be more novels forthcoming.


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