Bernard Cornwell · 1981 · overland

Bernard Cornwell's series of Napoleonic adventures. Richard Sharpe, risen from the London gutter to an officer of the 95th Rifles, fights his way through the whole Peninsular War at Wellington's side - from the base at Lisbon through the bloody victories of Talavera, Badajoz, Salamanca and Vitoria, over the Pyrenees into France at Toulouse, and at last to the mud and slaughter of Waterloo.

1. 1
   Lisbon

   Wellington's army holds Portugal from Lisbon and the great secret Lines of Torres Vedras, the base from which Sharpe and the riflemen march out, again and again, into Spain.

2. 2
   Talavera

   At Talavera in 1809, in the choking heat and burning grass, Sharpe wins his name - and captures a French imperial eagle, the standard that restores a broken regiment's honour.

3. 3
   Badajoz

   The border fortress of Badajoz falls in 1812 after a nightmare assault on its breaches, a slaughter in the ditch that Sharpe barely survives and never forgets.

4. 4
   Salamanca

   At Salamanca in the summer of 1812, Wellington destroys a French army in forty minutes, and Sharpe fights through spies and swordsmen amid the wheeling battle.

5. 5
   Vitoria

   The victory at Vitoria in 1813 shatters French power and drives Napoleon's armies out of Spain for good, the road to France thrown open at last.

6. 6
   Toulouse

   Over the Pyrenees the war spills into France itself, ending in the needless bloodletting at Toulouse in 1814 - fought, it turns out, after Napoleon has already abdicated.

7. 7
   Waterloo

   A year on, Napoleon returns, and Sharpe stands with Wellington on the rain-soaked ridge at Waterloo for the last, terrible day that ends the emperor and the wars for ever.