The Sharpe Series (3) - Sharpe's Fortress: The Siege of Gawilghur, December 1803: Richard Sharpe and the Siege of Gawilghur, December 1803 [Paperback]

‘Sharpe and his creator are national treasures.' Sunday Telegraph

'Bernard Cornwell is a literary miracle. Year after year, hail, rain, snow, war and political upheavals fail to prevent him from producing the most entertaining and readable historical novels of his generation.' Daily Mail

'Cornwell's narration is quite masterly and supremely well-researched.' Observer
‘The best battle scenes of any writer I’ve ever read, past or present. Cornwell really makes history come alive.’ George R.R. Martin

'Sharpe and his creator are national treasures.' Sunday Telegraph 'Bernard Cornwell is a literary miracle. Year after year, hail, rain, snow, war and political upheavals fail to prevent him from producing the most entertaining and readable historical novels of his generation.' Daily Mail 'Cornwell's narration is quite masterly and supremely well-researched.' Observer 'The best battle scenes of any writer I've ever read, past or present. Cornwell really makes history come alive.' George R.R. Martin

Sharpe, having just received his commission, faces his toughest battle yet in this return to India, the terrain of the bestselling Sharpe’s Tiger. Repackaged in the fantastic new Sharpe look.

Sir Arthur Wellesley's army is closing on the retreating Mahrattas in western India. Marching with the British is Ensign Richard Sharpe, newly made an officer, wishing he had stayed a sergeant.

An act of treachery by Sharpe’s old enemy, Sergeant Hakeswill puts him in terrible danger, and leads him to the horror of the impregnable Gawilghur’s ravine. To regain his confidence and his authority, Sharpe will fight as he has never fought before.

Soldier, hero, rogue – Sharpe is the man you always want on your side. Born in poverty, he joined the army to escape jail and climbed the ranks by sheer brutal courage. He knows no other family than the regiment of the 95th Rifles whose green jacket he proudly wears.

It is 1803, and closing on the retreating Mahrattas in western India is Sir Arthur Wellesley’s army and with it Ensign Richard Sharpe, newly commissioned but wishing he had stayed a sergeant. Spurned by his new regiment, he is sent to the army’s baggage train and there finds corruption, romance, treason and enemies old and new, including the murderous Sergeant Hakeswill who has powerful friends while Sharpe’s only ally is an orphaned Arab boy.

And waiting with the cornered Mahrattas is another enemy, the renegade Englishman William Dodd, who envisages a glorious triumph, for the Mahrattas have taken refuge in Gawilghur, India’s greatest stronghold, perched high on cliffs above the Deccan Plain. He who rules in Gawighur, it is said, rules India, and Dodd knows that the fortress is impregnable, but it is here that Sharpe must face his enemies …

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Bernard Cornwell worked for BBC TV for seven years, mostly as producer on the Nationwide programme, before taking charge of the Current Affairs department in Northern Ireland. In 1978 he became editor of Thames Television’s Thames at Six. Married to an American, he now lives in the United States.