Sharpe's Fortress

Infobox_Book
name = Sharpe's Fortress


image_caption = First edition cover
author = Bernard Cornwell
cover_artist =
country = United Kingdom
language = English
series = Richard Sharpe
genre = Historical novels
publisher = Harper Collins
release_date = 19 November, 1998
media_type = Print (Hardcover and Paperback) and audio-CD
pages = 301 pp (hardcover edition)) 368 pp (paperback edition)
size_weight =
isbn = ISBN 0-00-225631-2 (hardcover edition) ISBN 0-00-651031-0 (paperback edition)
preceded_by = Sharpe's Triumph
followed_by = Sharpe's Trafalgar

Sharpe's Fortress is the third (historically) of the Richard Sharpe series, and last of the Sharpe India trilogy, by English author Bernard Cornwell. It tells the story of ensign Sharpe, during the battle of Argaum and the following siege of the Fortress of Gawilghur in 1803.

Plot summary

It is 1803 and Sir Arthur Wellesley’s army is closing on the retreating Mahrattas in western India. Marching with the British is Ensign Richard Sharpe, newly made into an officer and 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. Sergeant Hakeswill wants Sharpe dead, and Hakeswill has powerful friends while Sharpe has only an orphaned Arab boy as his ally.

And waiting with the cornered Mahrattas is another enemy, the renegade Englishman, William Dodd, who does not envisage defeat, but only a glorious triumph. For the Mahrattas have taken refuge in Gawilghur, the greatest stronghold of India, perched high on its cliffs above the Deccan Plain. Who rules in Gawilghur, it is said, rules India, and Dodd knows that the fortress is impregnable. There, behind its double walls, in the towering twin forts, Sharpe must face his enemies in what will prove to be Wellesley’s last battle on Indian soil.

Characters in "Sharpe's Fortress"

*Richard Sharpe – Ensign in the British Army
*Sir Arthur Wellesley – commander of the British in India
*Mahrattas – their Indian adversary
*William Dodd – renegade British officer
*Ahmed; Sharpe's trusty Arab helper

Release details

*1998, UK, HarperCollins ISBN 0-00-225631-2, Pub date 19 November 1998, hardcover (First edition)
*1999, UK, HarperCollins ISBN 0-00-105562-3, Pub date 1 March 1999, Audio book cassette
*1999, UK, Chivers Audio Books ISBN 0-7540-5319-9, Pub date ? November 1999, Audio book CD
*2000, UK, HarperCollins ISBN 0-00-651031-0, Pub date 6 March 2000, paperback
*2005, USA, HarperTorch ISBN 0-06-101271-8, Pub date ? June 2005, paperback
*2006, UK, HarperCollins ISBN 0-00-723505-4, Pub date 18 April 2006, paperback (Recent TV tie-in)

External links

* [http://bernardcornwell.net/index.cfm?page=2&BookId=3 Section from Bernard Cornwell's website on "Sharpe's Fortress"]