UNITED KINGDOM AUTHOR · FICTION · HISTORICAL
Bernard Cornwell
Also known as: Bernard. Cornwell, Cornwell Bernard
Bernard Cornwell (born February 23, 1944) is an English author of historical novels, known for his meticulous research and engaging storytelling. Born in London, England, to a Canadian airman father and a mother in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, he was adopted by a family in Essex belonging to the Peculiar People sect. Cornwell attended London University and worked as a teacher before joining the BBC, where he spent a decade, eventually becoming Head of Current Affairs in Northern Ireland. Bernard Cornwell is renowned for his long-running series of novels, including the Sharpe series about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe, the Saxon Stories (also known as The Last Kingdom series), which explores the unification of England, the Warlord Chronicles set in Arthurian Britain, and the Grail Quest series, which delves into a 14th-century search for the Holy Grail during the Hundred Years' War. Cornwell has written historical novels primarily based on English history, in five series, and one series of contemporary thriller novels. A notable feature of his historical novels is an end note on how they match or differ from history. He has also written a nonfiction book on the battle of Waterloo. Three of his historical novel series have been adapted for television: the Sharpe series by ITV, The Last Kingdom by BBC, and The Winter King for MGM+.
Miss savage was missing.
— from Sharpe's Havoc, 2003
Most acclaimed
Sharpe's Eagle
1981
Bold, professional, ruthless - hero and man of action"Sharpe asked three things of his men. That they fought as he did with a ruthless professionalism.That they stole only from the enemy and the dead unless they were starving. And they never got drunk without his permission."Richard Sharpe is having a difficult war. Excluded from promotion because he is always on the battlefield, up against pompous, incompetent colonels, and worst, suddenly finding himself at the head of an inexperienced company who use all twenty five drill book approved movements to load and fire their muskets.A soldier like Sharpe can't be kept down though and his promotion to Captain, when it comes, makes a dangerous enemy in the upper ranks. As Sharpe approaches bloody battle in Talavera, he knows he is fighting for his own honour and that of his men.
Sharpe's Havoc
2003
Bestselling historical novelist Bernard Cornwell returns to the battlefields of the Iberian Peninsula with Sharpe's Havoc, where the lieutenant and his men bravely fight the French invasion into Portugal.It is 1809, a few years after Lieutenant Richard Sharpe's heroic exploits on the battlefields of India and at Trafalgar, and Sharpe finds himself fighting the savage armies of Napoleon Bonaparte as they try to bring the whole of the Iberian Peninsula under their control. Napoleon is advancing fast in northern Portugal, and no one knows whether the small contingent of British troops stationed in Lisbon will stay to fight or sail back to England. Sharpe, however, does not have a choice: He and his squad of riflemen are on the lookout for the missing daughter of an English wine shipper, when the French onslaught begins and the city of Oporto becomes a setting for carnage and disaster.Stranded behind enemy lines, Sharpe returns to his mission to find Kate Savage. Sharpe's position on enemy grounds is precarious, and his search is further complicated by a mysterious and threatening Englishman, Colonel Christopher, who has his own ideas on how the French can be driven from Portugal. Christopher's scheme is dangerous, and Sharpe and his Riflemen are the only obstacles standing in his way. Suddenly, a newly arrived British commander in Lisbon, Sir Arthur Wellesley, unknowingly comes to Sharpe's rescue. Just when Sharpe and his men seem doomed, Sir Arthur mounts his own counterattack, an operation of breathtaking daring that will send Marshal Soult's army reeling back into the northern mountains.Sharpe's Havoc is a classic Sharpe story, based on real history, and a return to Portugal in the company of Sergeant Patrick Harper, Captain Hogan, and Sharpe's beloved Green-jackets, who can turn a battle as fast as Cornwell's readers can turn a page.
Sharpe's gold
1981
Bold, professional, ruthless - hero and man of actionThe stench was thick by the hermitage and buzzing with flies, and Sharpe paused by the steps.There was almost a reluctance to go inside, not just because of the bodies but because of what the hermitage might not contain.The gold.Fresh from battle and covered in glory, Sharpe and his regiment are called north by Wellington.On arrival though Sharpe is set on a desperate mission–to go behind enemy lines and secure the gold so vital to the success of the war.Success means riches–not just for the army, but for Sharpe and his men.The enemy he faces strikes terror in to the hearts of all around –a renegade guerrilla band whose leader has a particular loathing for Sharpe who has stolen his woman.