The Sharpe Companion by Mark Adkin

In 1998 Mark Adkin published a “detailed historical and military guide to Bernard Cornwell’s bestselling series of Sharpe novels”. For those of us who have been enthralled by this series which sees Sharpe fighting from India to Europe, this is a “must have”. It is an exceptional survey of his battles, the characters he portrays and a more general social commentary of his times.

It follows a very clear format and deals with the background of each individual book in the order they were written. It is filled with maps, drawings, photographs of contemporary paintings and all sorts of interesting, highly detailed descriptions of uniforms, weapons and battle plans. For instance, there is a detailed comparison between a musket and a rifle which has pictures supported by text.

I found myself re-reading his novels with this book by my side. It is amazing how reference to The Sharpe Companion suddenly brings a whole new perspective to the stories.

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