Sharpe's Fury (novel)

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**Sharpe's Fury**

Author	Bernard Cornwell
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Series	Richard Sharpe stories
Genre(s)	War, Historical novel,
Publisher	HarperCollins
Released	28 August 2006
Media Type	Print (Hardback)
Pages	416 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN	ISBN 000712015X (first edition, hardback)
Preceded by	Sharpe's Escape
Followed by	Sharpe's Battle

Sharpe's Fury is Bernard Cornwell's twenty first Richard Sharpe novel. Published in August 2006, it returns to the story during the middle of Sharpe's tour of duty during Wellington's campaign in the Iberian pennisular.

[edit] Plot introduction

It is 1811 and winter. Spain has completely fallen to the French. However still Cadiz holds out with the resistance coming from there but under siege. The British army under Wellington are in Portugal, awaiting spring and the chance to get back at Bonaparte. A company strength force including Richard Sharpe must break a bridge across the River Guadiana.

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

In the winter of 1811, the war seems lost. All Spain has fallen to the French, except for Cádiz 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 brutal savagery of the French Colonel Vandal, who is leading his battalion to join the siege of Cádiz. Sharpe extricates a handful of men from the debacle and is driven south into the threatened city. There, in Cádiz, he discovers more than one enemy. Many Spaniards doubt Britain's motives and believe their future would be brighter if they made peace with the French, and one of them, a baleful priest, secures a powerful weapon to break the British alliance. He will use a beautiful whore and the letters she received from a wealthy man. The priest will use blackmail, and Sharpe must defeat him in a sinister war of knife and treachery in the dark alleys of the city. Yet the alliance will only survive if the French siege can be lifted. An allied army marches from the city to take on the more powerful French and, once again, a brilliant piece of soldiering turns to disaster, this time because the Spanish refuse to fight. A small British force is trapped by a French army, and the only hope now lies with the outnumbered redcoats who, on a hill beside the sea, refuse to admit defeat. And there, in the sweltering horror of Barossa, Sharpe finds Colonel Vandal again.