Sharpe’s Havoc cover art

Sharpe’s Havoc

The Northern Portugal Campaign, Spring 1809

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Sharpe’s Havoc

By: Bernard Cornwell, John Nicholl
Narrated by: Paul McGann
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About this listen

*SHARPE’S COMMAND, the brand new novel in the global bestselling series, is available to pre-order now*

The latest book in the brilliant, bestselling Sharpe series brings Sharpe to Portugal, and reunites him with Harper.

It is 1809 and Lieutenant Sharpe, who belongs to a small British army that has a precarious foothold in Portugal, is sent to look for Kate Savage, the daughter of an English wine shipper. But before he can discover the missing girl, the French onslaught on Portugal begins and the city of Oporto falls.

Sharpe is stranded behind enemy lines, but he has Patrick Harper, he has his riflemen and he has the assistance of a young, idealistic Portuguese officer. Together, they have to find the missing girl and extricate themselves from the entanglements cast by Colonel Christopher, a mysterious Englishman who has his own ideas on how the French can be ejected from Portugal. Those ideas are as fantastic as they are dangerous, but the French are rampant, Lisbon is threatened and Christopher sees Sharpe and his riflemen as the only obstacles to his subtle scheme.

But there is a newly arrived British commander in Lisbon, Sir Arthur Wellesley, and just when Sharpe and his men seem doomed, Sir Arthur mounts his own counter-attack, an operation that will send the French army reeling back into the northern mountains. Sharpe becomes a hunter instead of the hunted and he will exercise a dreadful revenge on the men who double-crossed him.

Sharpe's Havoc is a classic Sharpe story, a return to Portugal in the company of Sergeant Patrick Harper, Captain Hogan and Sharpe's beloved Greenjackets.

Action & Adventure Epic Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction War & Military Solider Portugal Epic Fantasy Military

Critic reviews

‘Sharpe and his creator are national treasures.' Sunday Telegraph

'Bernard Cornwell is a literary miracle. Year after year, hail, rain, snow, war and political upheavals fail to prevent him from producing the most entertaining and readable historical novels of his generation.' Daily Mail

'Cornwell's narration is quite masterly and supremely well-researched.' Observer
‘The best battle scenes of any writer I’ve ever read, past or present. Cornwell really makes history come alive.’ George R.R. Martin

All stars
Most relevant

Where does Sharpe's Havoc rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Top 30%

What other book might you compare Sharpe's Havoc to, and why?

Any other of the Bernard Cornwall's series

What about Paul McGann’s performance did you like?

He reads with a really good pace for the action sequences

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Not really

Great Narration

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Compressing the book down to 25% of the original length was going to far and spoilt the story.

Over editing

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Was disappointed. I have been working through the series form book 1. I did not realise that I had purchased an abridged version and that thenarrator was Paul McGann. After being used to the wonderful narrations by Rupet Farley with his fanatastic voice characterisations I found McGann's narration to be one dimensional and lacking. I feel that I now need to purchase the unabridged version read by Rupert to restore my interest and momentum.
Peter Thompson

Disappointed with mistaken purchase

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