Sharpe Series: Book 19
Publication Date: December 2, 2025
A gripping novel featuring the legendary Richard Sharpe from Bernard Cornwell, the internationally bestselling master of historical fiction widely recognized as “the most prolific and successful historical novelist in the world today” (Wall Street Journal).
The year is 1813. France is a battlefield, and winter shows no mercy. Amid brutal conditions, Major Richard Sharpe finds himself saddled with an unexpected burden: Rear-Admiral Sir Joel Chase, dispatched by the Admiralty with sealed orders, unshakable confidence, and a frankly terrifying enthusiasm for combat.
Sharpe’s mission from Wellington is clear, yet anything but simple: Keep Sir Joel alive.
Sir Joel could hold the key to defeating Napoleon once and for all. But to pull off his audacious plan, he needs someone who knows how to fight dirty, think fast, and survive the impossible.
He needs Sharpe…
English soldier Richard Sharpe navigates the latest spate of bloody brawls with the French in Sharpe’s Storm, Bernard Cornwell’s latest entry in the beloved series.
It is 1813, and winter lashes the blighted south of France as the Duke of Wellington plans his next move against Napoleon. Wellington entrusts Major Sharpe with special orders to escort and protect Rear-Admiral Sir Joel Chase on a reconnaissance mission that could potentially break Napoleon’s grip. Chase has a taste for battle, however, and Sharpe has the devil’s own day keeping track of the wayward admiral.
As if the French were not enough for Sharpe, he also must deal with a wet-behind-the-ears and strutting new officer on the scene, Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Peacock, whose surname reveals much about the man’s character. Sharpe must ensure his Rifleman and those commanded by Peacock do not come to ruin because of his incompetence. And then there is Jane, Sharpe’s wife, safely billeted at the British-held French port of St. Jean de Luz, whom he longs to see.
Cornwell drops readers right into Sharpe’s chaotic, grimy, and blood-soaked world—The Peninsular War—and sheers away the romantic for the most realistic battle sequences, true to the era in dialogue, military strategy and tactics, weaponry, and the countless gruesome ways to die in the Napoleonic Wars. New and old faces appear as Sharpe traverses the rainy and cold French countryside, which longtime readers of the series will surely appreciate. For readers just beginning the series (like me!), this entry is a stirring, authentic introduction not only to Richard Sharpe but also to the long eighteenth- and nineteenth-century wars between the English and French.
Sharpe’s Storm is a gripping story with emotional resonance and top-notch historical detail told in Cornwell’s inimitable style. 
Bernard Cornwell is the author of over fifty novels, including the acclaimed New York Times bestselling Saxon Tales, which serve as the basis for the hit Netflix series The Last Kingdom. He lives with his wife on Cape Cod and in Charleston, South Carolina.
