The Prince Regent, after he had become King, did publicly express his fantasies that he had been present at battlefields during the late war. He would embarrass Wellington by claiming, at dinner, to have led a charge at Waterloo. The Duke kept a politic silence.
A politic silence is also best kept about Foulness. It was not a secret military camp in 1813; it is now.
So Sharpe and Harper are back with the army. They, like so many officers and men of that army, now have their wives with them, and they have, at last, breached the defences of France. Wellington is the first foreign General to invade French soil since the very beginning of the Revolutionary War twenty years earlier. There was a feeling, that winter of 1813, that Napoleon would surely sue for peace soon. He was assailed in the north and his beloved France was invaded from the south. But there are battles yet to be fought, and campaigns to be won, so Sharpe and Harper will march again.
About the Author
Bernard Cornwell's most recent novels are Copperhead and Rebel, historical novels set during the American Civil War, and The Winter King. Sharpe’s Regiment is the eighth volume in Bernard Cornwell's acclaimed Richard Sharpe series, which takes the hero to the famous battle of Waterloo—and beyond. Several novels in the series have been made into a television mini-series. Bernard Cornwell was born in London and lives in Chatham, Massachusetts.
The Sharpe Series
Sharpe's Rifles
Sharpe's Eagle
Sharpe's Gold
Sharpe's Company
Sharpe's Sword
Sharpe's Enemy
Sharpe's Honor
Sharpe's Regiment
Sharpe's Siege
Sharpe's Revenge
Waterloo
Sharpe’s Regiment Page 33