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Sharpe's Trafalgar: Richard Sharpe & the Battle of Trafalgar, October 21, 1805 (Richard Sharpe's Adventure Series #4) ReviewIn the hands of a lesser author, I'd be irritated with Richard Sharpe's ability to play a key role in seemingly every key British military action in the early 1800s. But thanks to Bernard Cornwell, I can dismiss petty contrivances and just enjoy the blasted books - and enjoy them I do.
(And I'm also reminded of the two soldiers in Ken Burns' magnificent Civil War TV history who kept journals and managed to be in over twenty critical battles . . . sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.)
Cornwell has written so many books that he does not feel the need for poetic titles. "Sharpe's Trafalgar" unsurprisingly puts Sharpe at, well, the Battle of Trafalgar. I know only a couple of Brits well, but from talking to them it's easy to see that Trafalgar is to Britain what Yorktown, Gettysburg, or D-Day are for the United States. There is nothing more stirring to national pride than a magnificent, critical military victory. So Cornwell can be forgiven if he jumps through a few odd hoops to have his favorite Army Ensign play a key role in the purely naval clash at Trafalgar.
Sharpe needs to get home from India to join his new regiment, the 95th Rifles. Obviously, Sharpe can't walk back to England from India, and this allows Cornwell to "play Patrick O'Brian." Sharpe learns the ins and outs of life on board a British naval vessel, including the close proximity of your fellow passengers, the problems of sailing with an uncooperative wind, and the perils at sea if your captain sells you out.
Sharpe also spends a lot of time romancing the glamorous Lady Grace, inconveniently married to a British lord, a general in the Army who is more politician than soldier. (This, by the way, means "villain" in Cornwell's universe, and he's a good foil for Sharpe.)
But the whole novel is really an excuse to get Sharpe to Trafalgar, where he meets Admiral Nelson and gets to wreak his unusual brand of havoc against the French navy. These latter chapters is where "Sharpe's Trafalgar" really soars, and it does so in both expected and surprising ways.
First, the obvious - Trafalgar's a battle, and nobody writes a better real-world battle scene than Cornwell. Sure, it's at sea, but that doesn't slow down an author of Cornwell's talent.
But what really makes the battle scenes at Trafalgar powerful is Cornwell's decision to give up portions of the narrative to Captain Chase, Sharpe's friend. I read and re-read several passages where Chase walks the decks of his beloved ship, hands clasped behind his back, as French muskets and cannon fire all around him. While keeping an air of nonchalance, Chase is terrified inside . . . and as such epitomizes the 19th-century British soldier. These are some of the best lines Cornwell has ever written.
I am early into the Sharpe series, and I expect I may find a later book that I enjoy more than "Sharpe's Trafalgar." If I do, that will be a happy day indeed.
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