The Sharpe Series (2) - Sharpe's Triumph: The Battle of Assaye, September 1803 [Abridged, Audiobook, CD] [Hardcover]

‘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

The latest of Cornwell’s perennially popular Sharpe adventures, returning, like Sharpe’s Tiger, to India, and culminating with the battle at Assaye which Wellington considered his greatest victory.

Sergeant Richard Sharpe witnesses a murderous act of treachery by an English officer who has defected from the East India Company to join the Mahratta Confederation. In the hunt for the renegade Englishman, Sharpe penetrates deep into enemy territory where he is followed relentlessly by his worst enemy, Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill.

The paths of treachery all lead to the small villiage of Assaye where Sir Arthur Wellesley, with a diminished British army, faces the Mahratta horde. Outnumbered and outgunned, Wellesley plunges his men into the white heat of battle. A battle that will make his reputation, and perhaps Sharpe’s too.

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.

India, 1803. It is four years since Richard Sharpe earned his sergeant's stripes at the siege of Seringapatam, and four years in which Sharpe seems to have discovered the easiest billet in the British army. But that comfort is rudely shattered when he witnesses a murderous act of treachery by an English officer who has defected from the East India Company to join the mercenary army of the Mahratta Confederation commanded by the flamboyant Hanoverian, Anthony Pohlmann.

Sharpe is ordered to join the hunt for the renegade Englishman, a hunt that will take him deep into the enemy's territory where he will face temptations more subtle than he has ever dreamed of. And behind him, relentlessly stalking him, comes his worst enemy, the baleful, twitching Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill who is determined to break Sharpe once and for all.

The paths of treachery all lead to the small village of Assaye where Sir Arthur Wellesley, with a tiny British army, faces the Mahratta horde. Outnumbered and outgunned, Wellesley decides to fight, and Sergeant Richard Sharpe is plunged into the white heat of a battle that will make Wellesley's reputation. It will make Sharpe's name to, but only if he can survive the carnage and killing frenzy, for it is at Assaye that he at last realizes his ambition and has a chance to seize it.

'Sharpe's Triumph' is a magnificent novel of the British in India, and of the battle which Arthur Wellesley, after he had become the Duke of Wellington, reckoned to be his greatest achievement. It will delight the millions of readers who have enjoyed Sharpe's later adventures in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo.

Bernard Cornwell worked for BBC TV for seven years, mostly as producer on the 'Nationwid' 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.

Twelve of Bernard Cornwell's bestselling Sharpe novels have been made into highly acclaimed films.

Videos of the 'Sharpe' television series are now available

Bernard Cornwell is also the author of the bestselling Starbuck chronicles, a series of novels that portray the American Civil War.

"A rollicking treat for Cornwell's many fans"
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

--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.

It was not Sergeant Richard Sharpe's fault. He was not in charge. He
was junior to at least a dozen men, including a major, a captain, a
subadar and two jemadars, yet he still felt responsible. He felt responsible,
angry, hot, bitter and scared. Blood crusted on his face where a thou-
sand flies crawled. There were even flies in his open mouth.
But he dared not move.
The humid air stank of blood and of the rotted egg smell made by
powder smoke. The very last thing he remembered doing was thrusting
his pack, haversack and cartridge box into the glowing ashes of a fire,
and now the ammunition from the cartridge box exploded. Each blast
of powder fountained sparks and ashes into the hot air. A couple of
men laughed at the sight. They stopped to watch it for a few seconds,
poked at the nearby bodies with their muskets, then walked on.
Sharpe lay still. A fly crawled on his eyeball and he forced himself
to stay absolutely motionless. There was blood on his face and more

blood had puddled in his right ear, though it was drying now. He
blinked, fearing that the small motion would attract one of the killers,
but no one noticed.
Chasalgaon. That's where he was. Chasalgaon; a miserable, thorn-
walled fort on the frontier of Hyderabad, and because the Rajah of
Hyderabad was a British ally the fort had been garrisoned by a hundred
sepoys of the East India Company and fifty mercenary horsemen from
Mysore, only when Sharpe arrived half the sepoys and all of the

horsemen had been out on patrol.
Sharpe had come from Seringapatam, leading a detail of six privates
and carrying a leather bag stuffed with rupees, and he had been greeted
by Major Crosby who commanded at Chasalgaon. The Major proved
to be a plump, red-faced, bilious man who disliked the heat and hated
Chasalgaon, and he had slumped in his canvas chair as he unfolded
Sharpe's orders. He read them, grunted, then read them again. `Why
the hell did they send you?' he finally asked.
`No one else to send, sir.'
Crosby frowned at the order. `Why not an officer?'
`No officers to spare, sir.'
`Bloody responsible job for a sergeant, wouldn't you say?'
`Won't let you down, sir,' Sharpe said woodenly, staring at the
leprous yellow of the tent's canvas a few inches above the Major's
head.
`You'd bloody well better not let me down,' Crosby said, pushing
the orders into a pile of damp papers on his camp table. `And you
look bloody young to be a sergeant.'
`I was born late, sir,' Sharpe said. He was twenty-six, or thought he
was, and most sergeants were much older.
Crosby, suspecting he was being mocked, stared up at Sharpe, but
there was nothing insolent on the Sergeant's face. A good-looking man,
Crosby thought sourly. Probably had the bibbis of Seringapatam falling
out of their saris, and Crosby, whose wife had died of the fever ten
years before and who consoled himself with a two-rupee village whore
every Thursday night, felt a pang of jealousy. `And how the devil do you
expect to get the ammunition back to Seringapatam?' he demanded.
`Hire ox carts, sir.' Sharpe had long perfected the way to address
unhelpful officers. He gave them precise answers, added nothing
unnecessary and always sounded confident. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.