Sharpe's battalion, acting as rearguard to the British Army in its retreat to Corunna, are cut down by a squadron of French regular cavalry. Sharpe takes up Captain Murray's heavy cavalry sword after Murray dies and takes command of the surviving riflemen. However, the men do not want to follow him. Their leader, Patrick Harper, and Sharpe fight, but they are interrupted by the arrival of Spanish Major Blas Vivar and his men. Vivar invites the British to travel with him for a while for mutual protection, but does not reveal his hidden agenda. The Spanish commoners hate the French invaders, but are dispirited and need something to rally around. Vivar finally confesses he is taking the gonfalon of Santiago to the city ofSantiago de Compostela. According to legend, raising the gonfalon there will summon the saint to Spain's aid; Vivar is certain that the act will rouse his people. However, the city is held by a strong French force. The French are aware of Vivar's goal. A French detachment, accompanied by Vivar's pro-French brother, Tomas, the Count of Mouromorto, pursues Vivar and Sharpe's men. As they march on, Sharpe encounters British Army Captain Michael Hogan, who is pleased to see the small group of soldiers. He also takes the young and beautiful Louisa Parker under his protection and begins to fall in love with her. Eventually, Sharpe reluctantly agrees to help Vivar try to take the city, despite the fact that the Spaniards who rally to Vivar are untrained and are outnumbered by the French garrison. Against all odds, they capture the city and hold it long enough for Vivar to raise the gonfalon.
Sharpe's Rifles was adapted as the first episode of the Sharpe television series starring Sean Bean as Sharpe, Brian Cox as Hogan and Daragh O'Malley as Harper and guest starring Simon Andreu as Vivar, Julian Fellowes as Major Dunnett and Tim Bentinck as Captain Murray. The adaptation also introduced the character of Teresa Moreno, Sharpe's future wife, prior to her introduction in the novels in Sharpe's Gold, as a colleague of Vivar and replaced the company of men from the novels with five key characters: three of these, Hagman, Cooper and Tongue, came from the novel, the other two, Harris and Perkins, were invented. It added an opening sequence of Sharpe saving the life of Sir Arthur Wellesley and earning a battlefield commission. Major Dunnett, who is merely captured in the book, is killed in the opening ambush, as is Sergeant Williams who survives until halfway through in the book. The backdrop of the retreat to Corunna was dropped and instead Sharpe is searching for an army banker, James Rothschild. Louisa, the primary love interest from the novel, is reduced to a minor character whose uncle turns out to be a colleague of Hogan and whose "aunt" is Rothschild in disguise. Hogan is given a larger role, manipulating Sharpe into assisting Vivar. The death of the primary villain Colonel De L'Eclin is altered slightly: In the book, he hides in Santiago with an army, in the television version, he returns alone to confront Sharpe and is killed by Perkins when he pulls a gun on him.
Release details
1988, UK, HarperCollins, Pub date ? December 1988, hardback
