Sharpe's Christmas

These stories are typical "Sharpe" with attention to historical detail, fluid prose and lively military action - a great Christmas present. However the book or rather booklet is rather short, and printed very poorly on cheap paper giving the book a rather home-made feel and therefore poor value for money.

Short but enjoyable (5/5 people found this helpful)

Sharpe's Christmas is a thin volume of two stories that were originally in the Christmas editions of the Daily Mail and like Sharpes Skirmish have been reprinted and added to by Mr Cornwell. it is a thin volume of two short stories but I loved them and I am sure every Sharpe fan will too.

Excellent (27/30 people found this helpful)

For those of as all who know and love Sharpe, this story comes just after "Sharpe's Regiment", set in the Pyrenees, and it's a typical Sharpe story.Excellent, but too short.

Cornwell at his best (But too short) (74/76 people found this helpful)

I have read every Sharpe book and have enjoyed them all. These two short stories keep up the trend, though I found them on the short side. I especially enjoyed the Peace time Sharpe's Ransom and would like to hear more of how Sharpe copes with civilian life in enemy territory. As with all the books you are left wanting more and I hope Cornwell fills in more of the gaps in the Sharpe years.

Excellent! (141/143 people found this helpful)

Both of these stories were originally written for & published by the DailyMail. They were intended to be 12,000 words long (exactly!) & werepublished in the Christmas editions of the paper to pad out the rathersparse holiday editions. Bernard Cornwell writes a very amusing intro tothe book describing this process. He's since rewritten both stories &padded them out with a little more detail. Both stories aim to have someChristmas spirit, but as Mr. Cornwell says "Sharpe isn't well known forwishing peace & goodwill to his fellow man"..quite the opposite infact!
The first story "Sharpes Christmas" is set in the Pyrenees during thewinter of 1813 & fits in just after the events of "Sharpes Regiment".Sharpe is tasked with stopping a French garrison escape from Spain throughthe mountains. The garrison is lead by Colonel Guidon (from SharpesTiger), a man described by Sharpe as "the best officer he ever met". Its astandard "Sharpe easily defeating massed columns of French" story but theconclusion is quite suprising & unusually touching (at least by Sharpestandards!)
The second story "Sharpes Ransom" is set in Normandy after Waterloo.Sharpe is trying to settle down with his new woman, Lucille & son, but thelocal villagers are unhappy about "an englishman" living with them. WhenLucille is kidnapped Sharpe has to win over the locals....fast. Many ofthe events described refer directly to "Sharpe's revenge". If you haven'tread it for a while a refresher is recommended. I enjoyed thepost-Waterloo Sharpe & personally I think there's more opportunity for afull novel here than in the rather contrived "Sharpes Waterloo".
Both stories are short & can be read in an hour or two. This makes itquite an expensive buy, but all profits from the book are split between"the Sharpe Appreciation society" & "the Bernard & Judy CornwellFoundation"- a charity for youngsters based in Cornwells adopted home onCape Cod. If you're not a die-hard Sharpe fan you may not fully appreciateit, but its a nice addition to the collection.

Bernard Cornwell

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