“Prepare to have your buckles swashed.”
— People
“Richard Sharpe has the most astounding knack for finding himself where the action is . . . and adding considerably to it.”
— Wall Street Journal
“Excellently entertaining. If you love historical drama, then look no further.”
— Boston Globe
One theory that a reader might reasonably form about Bernard Cornwell, arguably the most successful historical novelist writing today and who just published Sharpe’s Assassin (Harper Collins) to a flurry of good reviews, is that the author of well over 50 books in 41 years must be a fanatical plotter.
But that would not be correct.
“I never know how to write a book, I’ve no idea,” he said in a long Zoom interview, smiling, comfortably ensconced in his South Carolina home with an occasional puff of what appears to be a thin cigar. “That’s part of the joy of writing, to find out what happens. What I do know is that you must not bore the reader.”
SPONTANEOUS WRITING LEADS TO PURE ENJOYMENT
In case you doubt Cornwell’s claim to spontaneity when writing fiction, that he doesn’t always know what will happen next, there are specifics.
“Once I needed someone to say something for a page, a senior officer,” recalls Cornwell. “He took over the entire book and the next two as well.” The character in question “sprang to life on the page,” he explains. “It’s a nice process when that happens. It can be terribly inconvenient at times.”
Cornwell did not deviate from his creative technique when writing Sharpe’s Assassin, the 22nd book in the Napoleonic-era series on Richard Sharpe. Recruited shortly after the battle of Waterloo for an espionage mission in Paris, Sharpe is on the trail of unknown and very formidable adversaries. In what could be described as the climax of the novel, Sharpe must fight the most lethal of the adversaries. And Bernard Cornwell, when sitting down to write the fight scene, wasn’t sure how Sharpe would manage to survive it.
“That time I actually said to my wife, ‘I’ve put Sharpe in many horrible situations, I’m not sure I can get him out of this one,’ Cornwell recalls. “The next day I sat down and wrote the fight and it turned out very differently than what I thought.”
One of the most interesting aspects of Sharpe’s Assassin is that there was a 15-year gap between the last one in the series. In the interlude he wrote a series set in England in the early Middle Ages, the Last Kingdom books. Those novels were written in the first person. So Cornwell found himself having to go back to the third-person perspective of Sharpe, a character living nine centuries later.
To prepare, “I read the last few Sharpe books,” said Cornwell. “And I went to a few fan sites. It helped.”
AN AUTHOR’S HONEST TAKE ON ADAPTATIONS
The fact that there are fan websites devoted to Richard Sharpe may be due in part to the series being adapted into a popular ITV television series starring Sean Bean. (Available on Britbox in the U.S.)
“For me, Sean really was the perfect Sharpe,” Cornwell says. “The moment I saw him on screen, I thought, ‘My God he’s perfect.’ I got a lot of back chat from readers who said Shape has black hair and [Bean] doesn’t. I thought, live with it.”
Bean’s vivid portrayal of Sharpe, a rifleman “born in the gutter” who rises through the ranks amid vicious opposition, could be one of the reasons why Cornwell was able to easily summon him up again after a long gap.
“He came back in my head instantly,” said Cornwell. “You can’t miss him, because he is always there. I hear Sean Bean’s voice in my head when I’m going out for a walk.”
The Last Kingdom books were also adapted to television, in that case a Netflix series. Fans of Uhtred, the Danish lord’s son raised as a Viking pagan, are impatiently awaiting the fifth and last season.
This means Cornwell is the fictional father of two television series praised for their strong acting, gripping drama, and rousing battles. Asked how he feels about this feat, he says, “It seems unreal. I really find it very hard to accept that they’re my books. I don’t look at them and think, ‘That’s mine.’”
There’s absolutely no sniping from the field when it comes to the television adaptations of his work. “I support everything they do. I’m a cheerleader.”
Cornwell even says that he loses himself in the story at times when watching The Last Kingdom.
“My wife was a little confused about something in the plot a couple of times and turned to me. I said, ‘Why ask me? I only wrote the books.’”
While he’s not the sort of author pacing the set as they’re shooting the film, Cornwell did make the most of the experience by appearing in an episode. “I got murdered by Uhtred. It was huge fun, I had hair extensions to my waist and I felt I was 19 again.”
FUN WITH POPULARITY
The popularity of Cornwell’s books, many of which reach bestseller rank, can lead to some unexpected moments.
“About five or six years ago, a British publisher brought out a new author and it said on the cover ‘Better than Bernard Cornwell,’” he recalls.
To Cornwell’s surprise, a couple of years later, he was asked by that publisher to read the same author’s next book in advance and contribute an endorsement quote. Laughing, Cornwell said, “I wrote to them, ‘Maybe you should ask ‘Better than Bernard Cornwell’ to write it.”
In case it sounds like Cornwell is having entirely too much fun at this, he does follow a ferocious work ethic. “Every day I sit down and write, a job like any other. No excuse. I might take time off to walk the dog.”
And his passion for history comes through in his research of the period and the real people he’s writing about, such as Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington. Learning about Wellington’s life had certain challenges.
“Wellington notoriously hated authors and refused to meet them. If you wanted any good stories, you had to send a young woman. He wouldn’t talk about the Battle of Waterloo with any men. He was a cold man who nonetheless had very strong emotions. I think he frightened most of his officers who were scared of his disapproval. Extraordinarily efficient man. Very good at his job. But he wasn’t a war lover, he wasn’t a Napoleon.”
Cornwell’s enthusiasm for the period means there will probably be more Sharpe books after Sharpe’s Assassin.
“I might go back and fill in the gaps in Sharpe’s life in Spain and Portugal,” Cornwell said. “I always think he was at his best in Spain and Portugal.”
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About Bernard Cornwell:
Bernard Cornwell is the author of over fifty novels, including the acclaimed New York Times bestselling Saxon Tales books, 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. For more on Bernard Cornwell and his books, visit: www.bernardcornwell.net
