From New York Times bestselling author Bernard Cornwell, the first exciting adventure in the world-renowned Sharpe series, chronicling the rise of Richard Sharpe, a Private in His Majesty's Army at the siege of Seringapatam.

"The greatest writer of historical adventures today."
—Washington Post

Richard Sharpe. Soldier, hero,

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Richard Sharpe, newly promoted for his skill in assisting Sir Arthur Wellesley in the battle against the Mahratta, risks his honor, reputation, and fortune in his quest to thwart a treasonous scheme devised by his oldest nemesis Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill.

In the winter of 1811 the war seemed lost. All Spain has fallen to the French, except for Cadiz which is now the Spanish capital and is under siege. Wellington and his British army are in Portugal, waiting for spring to spark the war to life again. Richard Sharpe and his company are part of a small expeditionary force sent to break a bridge across the River Guadiana. What begins as a brilliant piece of soldiering turns into disaster, thanks to the...

To stem the Napoleonic tide, Sharpe must capture a fortress—where his wife and infant daughter are trapped—while protecting himself from a fellow officer determined to destroy him.

An unfinished duel, a midnight murder, and the treachery of a beautiful prostitute lead to the imprisonment of Sharpe. Caught in a web of political intrigue for which his military experience has left him fatally unprepared, Sharpe becomes a fugitive—a man hunted by both ally and enemy alike.

Pinned behind enemy lines with ammunition low and gunpowder wet, Major Richard Sharpe and his troops must hold a war-battered fort against a legion of two thousand strong under General Calvert

"Lieutenant-Colonel Sharpe is a man with a reputation. Born in the gutter, raised a foundling, he joined the army twenty-one years ago, and it's been his home ever since. He's a loose cannon, but his unconventional methods make him a valuable weapon. So when, the dust still settling after the Battle of Waterloo, the Duke of Wellington needs a favour, he turns to Sharpe. For Wellington knows that the end of one war is only the beginning of another....