Sharpe’s Escape – Bernard Cornwell

The lovely people at the Barbican Library had to get this one on inter-library loan for me – the one copy the system claimed to be held on their shelves was last borrowed in 2004, and as the librarian astutely observed, “It looks like that copy’s gone walkabout”.

Now Captain, Richard Sharpe and the South Essex are in Portugal, as Wellington lures the French towards defeat and starvation along the defensive Lines of Torres-Vedras.

The battles take place on a personal level too, after Sharpe makes an enemy of a Portuguese nobleman on the make, whose past is less than whiter than white. Exciting action as Sharpe and Co are separated from the main British Army and have to take the river route from Coimbra to Lisbon, arriving just in time to save the day….And there’s a nice bit of romance thrown in for good measure too.

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