Sharpe’s Fortress [181-011-4.2]
By: Bernard Cornwell
Sharpe’s Fortress [181-011-4.2]
By: Bernard Cornwell
Category: fiction historical
Synopsis:
It is December, 1803, and Richard Sharpe is now an officer in Sir
Arthur Wellesley’s army that is seeking to end the Mahratta War.
Sharpe, just risen from the ranks, discovers that his fellow-officials
are not welcoming.
Unsure of his authority and uncomfortable in the mess, he is failing,
and his failure seems assured When he is relegated to a tedious jop in
the baggage train.
There Sharpe discovers a treason has been conjured up by his oldest and
worst enemy, Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill, but in uncovering this Sharpe
finds himself alone and under dreadful threat. He falls back on his
fighting ability to regain his confidence and his treasure, the jewels
of the Tippoo Sultan, which have been stolen from him.
The search for revenge on the men who robbed him takes him to
Gawilghur, the fortress in the sky, the last refuge of a desperate
enemy. Gawilghur has never fallen to assault, and bolstering its de
fences is the renegade Englishman, William Dodd, who escaped from
Sharpe in Sharpe’s Triumph. The fortress, poised high above the
Deccan Plain, seems impregnable, and contains a trap for its attackers.
Dodd is confident that no redcoat can reach him, but Sharpe is
desperate and so he joins Wellesley’s troops as they surge across the
neck of land that leads to the breaches. There, in the horror of
Gawilghur’s ravine, dominated by walls and guns, he will fight as he
has never fought before.
Sharpe’s Fortress completes the story of Sharpe in India, following
Ensign Sharpe from the heat-baked battle of Argaum to the carnage at
Gawilghur. It is a stunning successor to Sharpe’s Tiger and Sharpe’s
Triumph, and leaves Richard Sharp poised to return to Europe apd to
new, even more lethal, enemies.
By the same author The Sharpe novels (in chronological order)
SHARPE’S TIGER
Richard Sharpe and the Siege of Senngapatam, 1799
SHARPE’S RIFLES
Richard Sharpe and the French Invasion of Galicia, “January 1809
SHARPF’S EAGLE
Richard Sharpe and the Talavna Campaign, July 1809
SHARPE’S GOLD
Richard Sharpe and the Destruction ofAlmeida, August 1810
SHARPE’S BATTLE
Richard Sharpe and the Battle of Fuentes de Onoro, May 1811
SHARPE’S COMPANY
Richard Sharpe and the Siege of Badajoz.
January to April 1812
SHARPE’S SWORD
Richard Sharpe and the Salamanca Campaign, June and July 1812
SHARPE’S ENEMY
Richard Sharpe and the Defence of Portugal, Christmas 1812
SHARPE’S HONOUR
Richard Sharpe and the lritona Campaign, February to June 1813
SHARPE’S REGIMENT
Richard Sharpe and the Invasion of France, June to November 1813
SHARPE’S SIEGE
Richard Sharpe and the Winter Campaign, 1814
SHARPE’S REVENGE
Richard Sharpe and the Peace of 1814
SHARPE’S WATERLOO
Richard Sharpe and the Waterloo Campaign, 75 June to 18 June 1815
SHARPE’S DEVIL
Richard Sharpe and the Emperor, 1820 -21
The Starbuck Chronicles
REBEL
COPPERHEAD
BATTLE FLAG
THE BLOODY GROUND
SHARPE’S TRIUMPH
Richard Sharpe and the Battle of Assaye, September 1803
HarperColVmsPuhhshers
Harper Collins Publishers 77 – 85 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith,
London w6 SJB www.fireandwater.com Published by HarperCollins Publish
1999 Copyright (c) Bernard Cornwell 1999 The Author asserts the moral
right to be identified as the author of this work A catalogue record
for this book is available from the British Library ISBN o oo 225930 3
Maps by Ken Lewis Set in Postscript Monotype Baskerville and Linotype
Meridien by Rowland Phototypesetting Ltd, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Caledonian International Book
Manufacturing Ltd, Glasgow All rights reserved. No part of this
publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of
the publishers.
Sharpens Fortress is for Christine Clarke, with many thanks
CHAPTER 1
Richard Sharpe wanted to be a good officer. He truly did. He wanted
it above all other things, but somehow it was just too difficult, like
trying to light a tinderbox in a rain-filled wind. Either the men
disliked him, or they ignored him, or they were over-familiar and he
was unsure how to cope with any of the three attitudes, while the
battalion’s other officers plain disapproved of him. You can put a