The Books

Heretic is the third in the ‘Grail Quest’ series, and it takes Thomas of Hookton south into Gascony and to a final confrontation with his cousin, Guy Vexille. The novel begins with the fall of Calais, and most of the events occur in the subsequent truce, but for Thomas and his companions there can be no truce, only a vicious small war which ends with them being besieged, not just by enemies intent on finding the grail, but by the Black Death.

Sharpe’s Havoc is set during the French invasion of Portugal in 1809 and Sir Arthur Wellesley’s devastating counter-attack. Patrick Harper is back, as is Captain Hogan. The book slots between Sharpe’s Rifles and Sharpe’s Eagle.

Sharpe’s Christmas contains two short stories, ‘Sharpe’s Christmas’ and ‘Sharpe’s Ransom’. ‘Sharpe’s Christmas’ is set in 1813, towards the end of the Peninsular War and falls after Sharpe’s Regiment. ‘Sharpe’s Ransom’ comes after Sharpe’s Waterloo and is set in peacetime.

Vagabond is a follow-up to Harlequin (The Archer’s Tale in the US) – and starts almost as soon as the earlier book ends, carrying on Thomas of Hookton’s story. He has been sent back to England to pursue his father’s mysterious legacy which hints that the Holy Grail might exist and gets tangled with the Scottish invasion of 1347.

It is the summer of 1812 and Richard Sharpe, newly recovered from the wound he received in the fighting at Salamanca, is given an easy duty; to guard a Commissary Officer posted to an obscure Spanish fort where there are some captured French muskets to repair. But unknown to the British, the French are planning a raid and Sharpe is in for a fight!