Sharpe is a series of historical fiction stories by Bernard Cornwell centred on the character of British soldier Richard Sharpe. Cornwell's series is composed of many novels and several short stories, and charts Sharpe's progress in the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars , though the novels were published in non-chronological order.
He begins in Sharpe's Tiger as a private in the 33rd Regiment of Foot who is continually promoted, finally rising to lieutenant colonel in Sharpe's Waterloo. His military career ends with the final defeat of Napoleon , but he has more adventures as a civilian.
Sharpe is born to a whore in the rookeries of London. Orphaned at an early age, he grows up in poverty. He is eventually taken in by prostitute and later bar owner Maggie Joyce and becomes a thief. He has to flee the city after killing a man to protect Maggie. Enlisting in the army, he is promoted to sergeant as a reward for completing a highly dangerous espionage mission in India. He is made an officer , an ensign , when he saves the life of his commanding officer, Arthur Wellesley the future Duke of Wellington , during the Battle of Assaye.
It is a mixed blessing, as he constantly has to fight class prejudice in an army where an officer's rank is often purchased without regard to qualification. Cornwell sees to it that he is improbably present at many important battles of the British Empire at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th, including the Battle of Waterloo.
Sharpe is described as "brilliant but wayward" in Sharpe's Sword , and he is portrayed by the author as a "loose cannon". He becomes a highly skilled and experienced leader of light troops.
