Sharpe’s Escape

Name: Sharpe’s Escape
Rating: 4.27 (14006 reviews)

by Bernard Cornwell Book 10 in the Sharpe series.

First published 2004

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4.3(14,006)

Portugal, 1810. As André Masséna’s army advances towards Lisbon, Sharpe loses command of his company to a well-connected but inexperienced officer. He then uncovers a scheme by Major Ferreira and his powerful brother Ferragus to supply the French invaders. Separated from his men during the destruction of Coimbra, Sharpe must escape his enemies and reach Wellington’s defensive Lines of Torres Vedras.

Massena's invasion gives the story a strategic framework in which Wellington deliberately trades territory for time before the Lines of Torres Vedras. Sharpe's discovery of profiteering inside that retreat makes betrayal especially dangerous: men who enrich themselves by supplying the French undermine the scorched-earth policy on which British defence depends. Personal escape becomes part of the larger effort to deny the invaders resources.