It is 1805 and Ensign Richard Sharpe is on his way home from India. The voyage should be a period of rest but his ship is riven with treachery and threatened by a formidable French warship, the *Revenant* , which is terrorizing British shipping in the Indian Ocean. An old opponent of Sharpe’s is aboard his ship, and the voyage is further disturbed by the Lady Grace Hale, apparently as unreachable as she is beautiful.
Sharpe also has friends, notably a captain of the Royal Navy who is hunting the *Revenant* and who rescues Sharpe when all seems lost. The hunt turns into a stern chase as the French warship races home, carrying a treaty that could ignite India into a new war against the British. When the *Revenant* encounters the combined French and Spanish fleets off Cadiz it seems that Sharpe’s enemies have found safety, even as his enemies on board appear to have him trapped.
Yet over the horizon is another fleet, led by Nelson, and Sharpe’s revenge will cone in a savage climax when the two armadas meet on a clam October day off Cape Trafalgar.
**SHARPE’S TRAFALGAR**
*CORNWELL’S NARRATION OF THIS EPIC SEA-BATTLE IS QUITE MASTERLY AND SUPREMELY WELL RESEARCHED* – **OBSERVER**
Cover Illustration: David Scutt