Having worked my way through Sharpe chronologically and (like most readers) built up a decent knowledge of the period, I was braced for something different in this novel of the peace of 1814 -before that march to Waterloo. Pleasingly, I found it wasn't just 'filler' but a refreshing change of pace that particularly rewarded the long term reader.
Of all the books, this one feels most like a sequel. It begins with the fall out from
Sharpe's Siege set weeks before; leading Sharpe to a duel that will test his relationship with Jane, started in
Sharpe's Regiment; and embroils Sharpe first in battle then in peacetime treachery, that will have life or death consequences for friends and foe (Nairn, Frederickson, Ducos) who've inhabited Sharpe's world since
Sharpe's Enemy.
With so much to resolve, Cornwell makes great use of his standard omniscient narration to tell the story 'over the shoulder' of these characters. Sharpe increasingly terrified before battle, longing for retirement and his wife; Harper trapped in the army; Frederickson losing any purpose he had; all the French characters waiting for the country to descend into chaos and making their plans.
Cornwell, all the peninsular battles behind him, goes to town on the last battle of the war in the first 3rd of the book. There follows a thrilling melodrama (not unlike Dickens'
A Tale of Two Cities (Penguin Classics) in style and subject) played out across England, France and Italy with plenty of tough, tense action. I love the TV show but, free from budgetary or timing constraints, this is far superior. The characters truly think this is the end for them: of course, we know there's one last march...