Sharpe's Tiger

Infobox_Book |
name = Sharpe's Tiger


image_caption = First edition cover
author = Bernard Cornwell
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United Kingdom
language = English
series = Richard Sharpe stories
genre = Historical novels
publisher = Harper Collins
release_date = 2 June, 1997
media_type = Print (Hardcover and Paperback) and audio-CD
pages = 400 pp (hardcover edition)) 352 pp (paperback edition)
size_weight =
isbn = ISBN 0-00-225010-1 (hardcover edition) ISBN 0-00-649035-2 (paperback edition)
preceded_by =
followed_by = Sharpe's Triumph

Sharpe's Tiger is Bernard Cornwell's return to Richard Sharpe during his sojourn in India. This is Cornwell's device to find prequel material for his hero. First published in 1997, more novels were to follow, both in India and the Western theater of the Napoleonic Wars.

Plot introduction

The first (chronologically) of the Richard Sharpe series, and of the Sharpe India trilogy, by the English author Bernard Cornwell. It takes place in Mysore, India and tells of Sharpe's adventures and triumphs against the Tipu Sultan during the Siege of Seringapatam.

Plot summary

Up to this time Cornwell had been going back through the period of the Napoleonic Wars to find new incidents into which to place his hero. Rather than do this, he adopts a "prequel" approach and uses an earlier campaign period in the history of the British Army, that of colonial India.

The novel opens with Richard Sharpe serving as a private with the British army, then invading Mysore and advancing on the Tippoo Sultan's capital city of Seringapatam. Sharpe is contemplating desertion with his paramour, widow Mary Bickerstaff. His sadistic company sergeant, Obadiah Hakeswill, deliberately provokes Sharpe into attacking him, and engineers the virtual death sentence of 2,000 lashes for the private. But Sharpe is rescued by Lieutenant William Lawford after 200 lashes are inflicted, in order to effect a rescue mission behind the Sultan's lines.

Lawford and Sharpe are ordered to pose as deserters to rescue Colonel Hector McCandless, chief of the British East India Company's intelligence service. Although Lawford is nominally in command, Sharpe quickly dominates the lieutenant by force of personality and, without authorization, brings Mary on the mission. Joining the Sultan's army, they discover that the Sultan has set a trap for the invading British by mining the weakest (and thus most inviting) portion of Seringapatam's walls.

Before Sharpe and Lawford can discover a way to transmit a warning to the British, they are betrayed by Sergeant Hakeswill. Hakeswill has been captured in battle and the Sultan orders him made a human sacrifice for victory, but Hakeswill secures the Sultan's mercy in exchange for revealing Sharpe's and Lawford's identity as spies.

Sharpe and Lawford are imprisoned as the British army prepares to assault the booby-trapped wall of the city. Mary helps Sharpe to escape, and Sharpe blows up the mine before the main British army can enter the trap. As the Sultan tries to flee the city, Sharpe finds him in a dark tunnel, kills him, and steals his rich jewels. Sharpe throws Hakeswill to the Sultan's tigers, but the recently fed animals ignore Hakeswill, and Sharpe's enemy survives to plague him in later adventures.

Characters in "Sharpe's Tiger"

*Richard Sharpe – the main protagonist.
*William Lawford – Sharpe's lieutenant who aids him in freeing Colonel McCandless.
*Mary Bickerstaff – a widowed half-Indian army wife, now attached to Sharpe.
*Colonel Arthur Wellesley – later 1st Duke of Wellington.
*Colonel Hector McCandless – Scots intelligence officer for the East India Company, held captive by Tipoo Sultan in the dungeons of Seringapatam.
*Tippoo Sultan – the Indian foe who is killed by Sharpe. His red ruby and some of his other jewels are stolen by Sharpe.
*Colonel Jean Gudin – a French adviser to Tippoo Sultan.
*Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill – becomes Sharpe's enemy, engineering his sentence to 2000 lashes.
*brevet Lieutenant Fitzgerald – murdered by Hakeswill during a battle outside Seringapatam.

Release details

*1997, UK, HarperCollins ISBN 0-00-225010-1, Pub date 2 June 1997, hardback
*1997, UK, HarperCollins ISBN 0-00-105335-3, Pub date 16 June 1997, audio cassette
*1997, USA, HarperCollins Publishers ISBN 0-06-101269-6, Pub date ? October 1997, hardback
*1997, UK, HarperCollins ISBN 0-00-225011-X, Pub date 3 November 1997, paperback
*1998, UK, HarperCollins ISBN 0-00-649035-2, Pub date 1 June 1998, paperback
*1999, USA, Chivers Press ISBN 0-7540-1242-5, Pub date 1 March 1999, hardback
*2001, USA, Rebound by Sagebrush ISBN 0-613-37043-0, Pub date ? October 2001, hardback (library)
*2002, USA, Chivers Audio Books ISBN 0-7540-5481-0, Pub date 16 June 1997, audio CD (unabridged William Gaminara narrator)
*2005, UK, HarperCollins ISBN 0-00-721814-1, Pub date 15 June 2005, audio cassette (Sean Bean narrator)
*2006, UK, HarperCollins ISBN 0-00-723504-6, Pub date 18 April, 2006, paperback

External links

* [http://bernardcornwell.net/index.cfm?page=2&BookId=1 Section from Bernard Cornwell's website on "Sharpe's Tiger"]