In a battery of events that will make a hero out of an illiterate private, a young Richard Sharpe poses as the enemy to bring down a ruthless Indian dictator backed by fearsome French troops.The year is 1799, and Richard Sharpe is just beginning his military career. An inexperienced young private in His Majesty's service, Sharpe becomes part of an expedition to India to push the ruthless Tippoo of Mysore from his throne and drive out his French allies. To penetrate the Tippoo's city and make contact with a Scottish spy being held prisoner there, Sharpe has to pose as a deserter. Success will make him a sergeant, but failure will turn him over to the Tippoo's brutal executioners — or, worse — his man-eating tigers. Picking his way through an exotic and alien world. Sharpe realizes that one slip will mean disaster. And when the furious British assault on the city finally begins, Sharpe must take up arms against his true comrades to preserve his false identity, risking death at their hands in order to avoid detection and thus to foil the Tippoo's well-set trap.

In a battery of events that will make a hero out of an illiterate private, a young Richard Sharpe poses as the enemy to bring down a ruthless Indian dictator backed by fearsome French troops.The year is 1799, and Richard Sharpe is just beginning his military career. An inexperienced young private in His Majesty's service, Sharpe becomes part of an expedition to India to push the ruthless Tippoo of Mysore from his throne and drive out his French allies. To penetrate the Tippoo's city and make contact with a Scottish spy being held prisoner there, Sharpe has to pose as a deserter. Success will make him a sergeant, but failure will turn him over to the Tippoo's brutal executioners — or, worse — his man-eating tigers. Picking his way through an exotic and alien world. Sharpe realizes that one slip will mean disaster. And when the furious British assault on the city finally begins, Sharpe must take up arms against his true comrades to preserve his false identity, risking death at their hands in order to avoid detection and thus to foil the Tippoo's well-set trap.

Sharpe's Fortress is the third (historically) of the Richard Sharpe series, and last of the Sharpe India trilogy.

This book tells the story of Ensign Richard Sharpe, who is sent to Copenhagen in 1807 with the job of protecting a nobleman on an important, but secret, mission. Sharpe soon discovers that his task is not as simple as it seemed and that he must overcome traitors, spies and the bombardment of Copenhagen.

Sharpe's Rifles was the first prequel novel in the series written by Bernard Cornwell. It tells the story of Richard Sharpe and the French Invasion of Galicia, January 1809.

Sharpe's Havoc is a historical novel by Bernard Cornwell set during the Napoleonic Wars.This book tells the story of Lieutenant Richard Sharpe, during a portion of his time with the 2nd Battalion of the 95th Rifles during the Peninsular War in 1809.

This is Bernard Cornwell's first novel, written as a means of providing him with an income while living with his American fiancée in her home country where he could not get a work visa.Cornwell’s plan "to write a series of tales about the adventures of a British rifleman in the Napoleonic Wars" and he had wanted to start with the Siege of Badajoz but on reflection, he felt that this was too ambitious for his first novel and so decided to start with a couple of easier books as a warm-up. Cornwell also wanted to find a task just as impossible as the taking of Badajoz for his first adventure, and so the capture of a Regimental Eagle from a French Regiment provided the challenge the author felt necessary to establish the reputation of both Sharpe and his close friend, Sergeant Patrick Harper.

Sharpe is sent on a secret mission behind French lines to locate gold that is badly needed to ensure the British can continue the fight against the French into the new year. At this time they hold a minor foothold in Portugal and are facing a major invasion in the new year.

It is the late summer of 1810 and the French mount their third and most threatening invasion of Portugal. Captain Richard Sharpe, with his company of redcoats and riflemen, meets the invaders on the gaunt ridge of Bussaco where, despite a stunning victory, the French are not stopped.

Sharpe's Fury returns to the story during the middle of Sharpe's tour of duty during Wellington's campaign in the Iberian peninsula, March 1811.

Richard Sharpe and the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro, May 1811.

Sharpe's Company set January to April 1812 during the Peninsular War.

It is the summer of 1812 and Richard Sharpe, newly recovered from the wound he received in the fighting at Salamanca, is given an easy duty; to guard a Commissary Officer posted to an obscure Spanish fort where there are some captured French muskets to repair. But unknown to the British, the French are planning a lightning raid across the River Tormes, and they reckon the obscure Spanish fort, which guards an ancient bridge across the river, will be lightly guarded. Sharpe is in for a fight.

The bitter rivalry between Sharpe and the ruthless Frenchman Colonel Leroux is brought to life against the vivid canvas of the Peninsular War.

A classic Sharpe adventure: Richard Sharpe and the Defence of Portugal, Christmas 1812 Newly promoted, Major Richard Sharpe leads his small force into the biting cold of the winter mountains. His task is to rescue a group of well-born women held hostage by a rabble of deserters. And one of the renegades is Sergeant Hakeswill, Sharpe's most implacable enemy. But the rescue is the least of Sharpe's problems. He must face a far greater threat. With only the support of his own company and the new Rocket Troop — the last word in military incompetence — to back his gamble, Sharpe cannot afford even to recognize the prospect of defeat. For to surrender — or to fail — would mean the end of the war for the Allied armies…

Richard Sharpe and the Vitoria Campaign, February to June 1813 Major Richard Sharpe awaits the opening shots of the army's new campaign with grim expectancy. Victory depends on the increasingly fragile alliance between Britain and Spain — an alliance that must be maintained at any cost. But Sharpe's enemy, Pierre Ducos, seizes a chance to both destroy the alliance and take a personal revenge on Sharpe. And when the lovely spy, La Marquesa, takes a hand in the game, Sharpe finds himself caught in a web of deadly intrigue and becomes a fugitive, hunted by enemy and ally alike…

Sharpe's Christmas, is a short story. It features Cornwell's fictional hero Richard Sharpe. It was originally written for British newspaper The Daily Mail which serialised it during the Christmas season of 1994. An extended version was published by The Sharpe Appreciation Society in a short story collection of the same name in 2003 to raise funds for The Bernard and Judy Cornwell Foundation.

Major Sharpe should be fighting the French — but his worst enemies are in England…

Richard Sharpe and the Winter Campaign, 1814. The invasion of France is under way, and the British Navy has called upon the services of Major Richard Sharpe. He and a small force of Riflemen are to capture a fortress and secure a landing on the French coast. It is to be one of the most dangerous missions of his career. Through the incompetence of a recklessly ambitious naval commander and the machinations of his old enemy, French spymaster Pierre Ducos, Sharpe finds himself abandoned in the heart of enemy territory, facing overwhelming forces and the very real prospect of defeat. He has no alternative but to trust his fortunes to an American privateer — a man who has no love for the British invaders.

Richard Sharpe and the Peace of 1814. It is 1814. After a long and exhausting series of battles the British and Spanish armies are pushing into south-western France from Spain. Rumours abound that Napoleon has surrendered, been murdered, or fled. But before the French are finally defeated, and Sharpe can lay down his sword, one of the bloodiest conflicts of the war must be fought: the battle for the city of Toulouse. Sharpe's war is not over with the victory. Accused of stealing a consignment of Napoleon's treasure en route to Elba, Sharpe must elude his captors and track down the unknown enemy who has tried to incriminate him. Accompanied by his comrade, Captain William Frederickson, Major Richard Sharpe pursues with energy, venom and unflinching resolve an ingenious and devastating revenge.