In the last years of the ninth century, King Alfred of Wessex is in failing health, and his heir is an untested youth. The Danes, who have failed so many times to conquer Wessex, smell opportunity.... First comes Harald Bloodhair, a savage warrior leading a Viking horde. But Alfred still has the services of Uhtred, his unwilling warlord, who leads Harald into a trap and, at Farnham in Surrey, inflicts one of the greatest defeats the Vikings were ever to suffer.

June 1815, and as Europe heads towards one of the most decisive battles in history, Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Sharpe finds himself on the personal staff of the Young Frog, Frederick, Prince of Orange, who has been given command of a large proportion of the Allied Forces. Frederick refuses to listen to Sharpe's scouting reports of an enormous French army marching towards Brussels with the lately returned Emperor Napoleon at its head - until it is nearly too late.

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. Whatever the outcome, Sharpe's war won't be over.

Richard Sharpe, bold, professional and ruthless, goes to war. Once a private, now he leads his men into action in the bloodiest battle of the war. The danger is as great from his enemies on his own side as from those across the battlefield. But through treachery and gun smoke, through sword fighting and bloody warfare, Sharpe saves his own life and the honour of the regiment.

Set in 1811, Richard Sharpe is given responsibility of an Irish battalion of ceremonial troops. However they are not only poorly equipped but also untrained for battle.

Young Nicholas Hook is dogged by a curse, haunted by what he has failed to do and banished for what he has done. A wanted man in England, he is driven to fight as a mercenary archer in France, where he finds two things he can love: his instincts as a fighting man, and a girl in trouble. Together they survive the notorious massacre at Soissons, an event that shocks all Christendom. With no options left, Hook heads home to England, where his capture means certain death.

1810. The French make another attempt to invade Portugal. Facing them is a wasted land, stripped of food by Wellington's orders, and Captain Sharpe. But Sharpe is in trouble. He has made a new enemy.

Major Richard Sharpe leads his small force to rescue the women hostages.

Bernard Cornwell has been thinking about this subject for years. He has long wanted to write a book about a single battle, the events that lead up to it, the actual days in the battle and the aftermath from multiple viewpoints. Lively historical characters abound on all sides but in Bernard Cornwell's hands the fictional characters, horsemen, archers, nobles, peasants are authentic and vivid, and the hour by hour view of the battle is dramatic and gripping.

Five years after the battle of Waterloo, Sharpe's peaceful retirement in Normandy is shattered by a plea for help. An old friend, Don Blas Vivar, is missing in Chile, reported dead at rebel hands - a report his wife refuses to believe.