Portugal, 1811
Captain Richard Sharpe’s renegade ways leave him discarded by his regiment and waging a war against a private Portuguese enemy – one fought through the burning, pillaged streets of Coimbra.
Forced to retreat across treacherous terrain, the British army prepare vast defences at the Lines of Torres Vedras – their greatest secret and their last hope of stopping the French reaching Lisbon. And risking everything to re-join his regiment, and lead the army into battle once more, is Sharpe . . .
‘A master storyteller’ DAILY TELEGRAPH
Bernard Cornwell worked for BBC Television for seven years, mostly as a producer on the Nationwide programme, before taking charge of the Current Affairs department in Northern Ireland. In 1978 he became editor of Thames Television’s Thames at Six. Married to an American, he now lives in the United States.