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Author Topic: New Sharpe Novel "Sharpe's Assassin"  (Read 1756 times)

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New Sharpe Novel "Sharpe's Assassin"
« on: March 23, 2021, 10:36:59 AM »
Thanks to bean-land.de
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Attention Bernard Cornwell fans. This. Is. Huge. Fifteen years after the publication of the last instalment, the swashbuckling series returns this autumn with a brand new adventure, Sharpe's Assassin. Secure a limited SIGNED edition here: http://bit.ly/3lKPaO2 
https://www.facebook.com/waterstones/posts/10159294336145953


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Sharpe's Assassin: Signed Edition (Hardback)
All  set for fresh adventure, Richard Sharpe returns in spectacular, swashbuckling style in the first novel in Bernard Cornwell’s mega-selling series since 2006. 

https://www.waterstones.com/book/sharpes-assassin/bernard-cornwell/2928377056209?utm_source=WS_SharpesAssassinSigned&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=march2021facebook&fbclid=IwAR2_kRyWXeL6_EEfzl5mMMqHcpVvI-NWHZpLNfXTbljMfO9xsFHZRnWZg2U


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SHARPE IS BACK.
This autumn, global bestseller Bernard Cornwell returns with his iconic hero, Richard Sharpe.
Outsider.
Hero.
Rogue. 
https://www.waterstones.com/book/sharpes-assassin/bernard-cornwell/9780008184018


Sharpe’s Assassin Hardcover – 30 Sept. 2021

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sharpes-Assassin-Bernard-Cornwell/dp/0008184011


« Last Edit: March 23, 2021, 11:03:34 AM by patch »

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Re: New Sharpe Novel "Sharpe's Assassin"
« Reply #2 on: September 12, 2021, 04:06:22 AM »
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Richard Sharpe is back!

It's been a while, but Richard Sharpe is back, and it's like he never left. "Sharpe's Assassin" is pure, classic Sharpe and fans will not be disappointed. Our favourite characters are all back, with an old nemesis, a new enemy, and some new friends all thrown together in the aftermath of the famous battle.

The book picks up directly after the events of "Sharpe's Waterloo", with Lieutenant-Colonel Sharpe and Harper sadly burying Dan Hagman. But they're not even done before Wellington sends Sharpe to Paris to help retrieve some prisoners vital to the cause. Napoleon might be down but he and his supporters are not out.

What follows is a tale that blends seamlessly with the saga fans love. The South Essex, as was, continues to follow Sharpe, even as he descends into the murky world of spies and conspiracies. Patrick Harper remains the true and strong friend that Sharpe depends on, as he struggles with the demands of a war he thought he was done with, and longs to return with his family to Normandy. Wellington remains the brusque, dour man we love, although his respect for Sharpe perhaps shines though a bit more now.

We have all the components of a fine Sharpe story - an impregnable citadel to breach, rights to wrong, battles we simple cannot win, but do, and a baddie, who turns out to be a decent guy. Through the clever use of conversation and musings, we even get a potted history of Sharpe's life so far, for the benefit of new readers. Cornwell's research is as spot-on as usual, and he's careful to separate fact from fiction in the afterword, for perfectionists.

Bernard Cornwell might well frown, but I simple cannot read a Sharpe novel now without hearing the voices of Sean Bean and Daragh O'Malley as Harper, and it adds an extra element to my enjoyment. No apologies.

"Sharpe's Assassin" is what fans old and new have been waiting for, and I can't recommend it highly enough. Form line and get stuck in! 
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56954003-sharpe-s-assassin

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Re: New Sharpe Novel "Sharpe's Assassin"
« Reply #3 on: September 28, 2021, 01:48:50 AM »
Thanks to beanland.de

A ‘slightly different’ Richard Sharpe is back, according to author Bernard Cornwell, and facing his final battle ... for now
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Sharpe’s Assassin brings back his original hero, Napoleonic Wars veteran Richard Sharpe – the man who made Cornwell famous – after an absence of 15 years. Sharpe’s Fury, the last book to feature the quick-thinking, hard-fighting soldier, came out in 2006.

“I’m not sure how the Sharpe fans will take it, but we’ll see,” says the author modestly, from the Cape Cod home he shares with wife Judy. “It’s a slightly different Sharpe book.”

Shades of difference perhaps, in that Sharpe now shows occasional, relatable, moments of self-doubt. And, having found love and fathered a child, he now harbours an understandable desire not to perish as he is thrust into the dangerously chaotic dying days of Napoleon’s regime post-Waterloo.

But all the hallmarks of the other 21 Sharpe novels are there: galloping pace; a tightly-layered plot, this time centred around fanatical loyalists who refuse to accept the war is over; moments of levity; and compelling characters including familiar favourites, a new antihero and a villain from Sharpe’s distant past.

And Sean Bean – in a sense.

The British actor who played Sharpe in the popular TV adaptation is so much a part of the character, says Cornwell, that he hears Bean’s familiar Yorkshire accent when the London-born soldier speaks.

“I absolutely hear Sean. I don’t see Sean, but I hear him,” Cornwall says, explaining that he even thinks like the star when writing. “He’s certainly had a huge influence on the way I think of Sharpe, and I’m very proud of that.”

Hailing the “grumpiness and stroppiness” in Bean’s portrayal, he adds, “Sharpe came first but Sean just came along and he was the perfect Sharpe.”

“It was very nice to be back with him, to the point where I’m thinking maybe I should do another one,” says Cornwell, politely pre-empting the usual “what’s next” question.
https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/a-slightly-different-richard-sharpe-is-back-according-to-author-bernard-cornwell-and-facing-his-final-battle-for-now/news-story/558983a464cc8048be37807f24b70e79

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Re: New Sharpe Novel "Sharpe's Assassin"
« Reply #4 on: October 05, 2021, 05:49:14 PM »
Thanks to beanland.de


Bernard Cornwell: Why I brought Sharpe back to life again
Nearly 15 years ago the author sent his hero into retirement after Waterloo. He tells Robert Crampton why the old rogue is riding out again
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He’s back! After a long absence, during which Richard Sharpe’s legions of fans have had to content themselves with the knowledge he was enjoying a well-earned post-Waterloo retirement in Normandy with Vicomtesse Lucille Castineau, our nationally treasured Napoleonic-era loveable rogue is poised to strut across the nation’s bookshelves once again. And guess what? He’s still giving those Froggy blighters what for. How marvellous.

That’s even though the war is over and the predictably shapely Lucille, Sharpe’s third missus, is one of those very same Frenchies herself. But as anyone who knows anything about Sharpe will realise, she’s hot, so who cares which side she’s on?
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/bernard-cornwell-author-interview-why-i-brought-sharpe-back-to-life-again-q6gm0rdw6





The Battle of Waterloo: Bernard Cornwell (1815)
 Listen to Podcast       See Show Notes      View Images
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Taking us back to this extraordinary day in history is one of the world’s finest historical novelists. For forty years, since the publication of Sharpe’s Eagle, Bernard Cornwell has been producing thrilling, dramatic works of fiction. At the centre of his longest-running series is the rifleman Richard Sharpe, whose tangled path led – like so many of those of his time – to the battlefield at Waterloo.

In this brilliantly analytical episode Cornwell takes us back to Waterloo himself. Standing by an elm tree on a ridge, we watch Wellington at a defining moment in his career. We see Napoleon, the master tactician, as he plays his final hand. And we learn about the human cost of this enormous battle in its dreadful aftermath.

Bernard Cornwell’s new novel, Sharpe’s Assassin, is set in the weeks immediately after Waterloo, as Napoleon’s most loyal followers take their fight to the very end. 
https://www.tttpodcast.com/season-5/the-battle-of-waterloo-bernard-cornwell-1815/?fbclid=IwAR3y4qbeDCXbrGhiTdhKiNS-7RR4uG_SVVvkXK_irjsp_ief6j3erBau5Tk





« Last Edit: October 05, 2021, 06:01:14 PM by patch »

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Re: New Sharpe Novel "Sharpe's Assassin"
« Reply #5 on: October 06, 2021, 02:34:26 PM »
A NIGHT IN WITH BERNARD CORNWELL
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To mark the publication of Sharpe’s Assassin

The ‘stream and book’ package includes a unique ticket for the stream, and a copy of Sharpe's Assassin, deliverable to any UK or International address.

For one night only, the event will be broadcast on 23rd October 2021 at 18:30 UK time. It will be available to view up to a week after the event has ended and can be accessed Worldwide. If you live in a time zone that does not suit the initial broadcast time you can watch it at any point after the initial showing for one week.

If you have any questions, please email faneonline@fane.co.uk
https://www.fane.co.uk/bernard-cornwell?fbclid=IwAR0MR2Qs1UXijSR1NXoEBU-CPIJhzcE1-41Rpj0qyJl5L44HiqTDcTbWzcU

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Re: New Sharpe Novel "Sharpe's Assassin"
« Reply #6 on: October 08, 2021, 02:05:35 AM »
Fiction’s most famous Rifleman returns — and it’s miraculous he’s still alive
Sharpe’s Assassin sees our hero despatched to Paris in the aftermath of Waterloo to take on the crack battalion known as Napoleon’s ‘devils’
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It has been 15 years since the last Richard Sharpe novel, and it’s a pleasure to report that fiction’s most famous Rifleman is still thriving, miraculous as that may seem after his long and suicidally dangerous career. Sharpe, a foundling child from the East End of London, brings street fighting skills to the business of soldiering. He has risen slowly and painfully through the ranks, campaigning in India during the 1790s and in Spain during the Peninsular war. At the start of this book, he has just saved the day at Waterloo with a typical combination of tactical skill, reckless courage and unorthodox thinking (in this case shooting the Prince of Orange, a British ally but a disastrous general).

Sharpe’s Assassin is the 22nd novel in this long-running series, which was already a success before its fortunes were boosted even further by Sean Bean and ITV. In the immediate aftermath of Waterloo, Wellington unleashes Sharpe on a desperate mission to destroy La Fraternité, a band of fanatical Bonapartists whose goal is to assassinate as many Allied leaders as possible.

He is now a colonel, albeit one with scars of flogging on his back, a souvenir of his previous life as a private soldier. In short order, he seizes a heavily defended citadel with a handful of men, releases a vital prisoner and sneaks into hostile Paris before the Allied armies reach the city. After this appetiser, the real fun begins. It culminates in a full-blown battle with a crack French battalion which Napoleon called his ‘devils’, led by le Monstre, the French equivalent of Sharpe.

Patrick O’Brian, the author of the Aubrey-Maturin novels set at sea in much the same period, is said to have commented that the Sharpe series had ‘too much plot, not enough lifestyle’. It’s fair to say that Bernard Cornwell is more interested in telling a good story than in developing a densely textured historical setting. It’s not that he doesn’t know his stuff, particularly where military history is concerned, but he’s intentionally sparing with his use of detail and unafraid to take the occasional liberty with the past.

There is very little surplus flesh on this novel. When Cornwell tells you something specific — for example that a Rifleman wraps his bullets in leather to improve their accuracy — he makes the detail count. He has a pleasing turn of phrase too — the unlovely Louis XVIII is variously dismissed as ‘a disgusting, gross lump of fat’ and ‘a sack of offal on legs the size of tree trunks’.

In genre terms, Sharpe and Lee Child’s Jack Reacher have much in common. Cornwell’s characters fall into three main categories: good guys, bad guys, and disposable extras. In one sense there’s little tension: we know our hero will survive — after all, he’s already appeared in Sharpe’s Devil (2010), set in 1820-21.

Frankly who cares? Sharpe’s Assassin impels you to turn the pages faster and faster, increasingly desperate to find out what happens next, and how on earth our hero will not merely survive but triumph. You don’t read a book like this: you devour it, and then you look forward to the next one.
 
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/fiction-s-most-famous-rifleman-returns-and-it-s-miraculous-he-s-still-alive