Product Description

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. Repackaged in the fantastic new Sharpe look. As millions of readers came to know Bernard Cornwell's brilliant creation Richard Sharpe as he fought his way through the Peninsular War, so they discovered that Sharpe had started his soldiering career in India. In 1997, Sharpe's Tiger finally lifted the veil on this exciting early life and became the biggest-selling Sharpe novel of all. Now, the year is 1803 and young Sergeant Richard Sharpe is still in India where, following his successes in Sharpe's Tiger, he is on the trail of a renegade East India Company officer. The pursuit takes him through the vicious siege of Ahmednuggur to the bloody battlefield of Assaye where the future Duke of Wellington won what he considered to be his greatest victory, with Richard Sharpe, naturally, at his side. Full of the action and drama and atmosphere that have made this series so immensely popular with both readers and television viewers, Sharpe's Triumph will be one of the most eagerly awaited novels of the year.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5890 in Books
• Published on: 1999-07-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Review
Praise for Bernard Cornwell and the Sharpe series 'Cornwell describes military action brilliantly. He evokes all the sights and sounds and smells while managing to describe the fluctuations of the battle with enough vim to keep you in suspense!The Sharpe novels are wonderfully urgent and alive.' Daily Telegraph 'Cornwell has maintained a marvellously high standard throughout the series!brilliantly lucid and compellingly exciting.' Evening Standard 'Bernard Cornwell knows his man, knows how to harness his qualities to the services of good fiction, and does not miss a trick!Sharpe and his creator are national treasures.' Sunday Telegraph 'The insubordinate, sarcastic and oversexed Richard Sharpe returns!Cornwell delivers the usual mix of strategy and strength -- classic battle scenes and plenty of fisticuffs.' Daily Mirror

About the Author
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.

Excerpted from Sharpe's Triumph by Bernard Cornwell. Copyright © 1999. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
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.

Customer Reviews

Wellington and Sharpe - the beginning.
Having marched and fought with Richard Sharpe from the Peninsula to Waterloo and beyond, it was with great interest that I journeyed back in time with him, and indeed Wellesley, to India. "Tiger," in all honesty, I found difficult to get into, although by the end I was once more with Sharpe in the thick of the action. "Triumph," on the other hand, had me hooked from the very start, and I would say to the new Sharpe reader - start with "Tiger" and persevere. "Triumph" fills in a lot of gaps in the Sharpe story as a whole, and after that, "Fortress" awaits you - and how! By the time you have fought at Assaye, won through at Ahmednuggur, and conquered Gawilghur, you deserve a rest, and a leisurely sea-voyage back home to England. But by then the year is 1805, and you will have to sail close to the South-West tip of Spain, the cape of Trafalgar. Who knows what will happen?

Sharpe at Assaye
This book culminates with the battle of Assaye (September 23rd, 1803) which Wellington himself allegedly considered his finest victory. Before it gets to that however you're treated to the oh so familiar but never stale or boring ingredients of a typical Sharpe novel: colourful characters (one female too, off course), a fast-paced plot, vivid descriptions, and plenty of action.

Mindless escapism this surely is, but in that category few can rival Cornwell.

Superb
I am so glad that Bernard Cornwell went back to do these. I was lucky enough to read all in date order (I got into these in the past 6 months). Reading the later books makes so much sense as they constantly refer back to previous exploits. It's really interesting to see him rising up the ranks, seems to make everything make sense. Typical rip-roaring Sharpe novel.... cant put them down!