In his major new history of the Russian conflict immortalized by Tolstoy in "War and Peace, " Lieven provides an examination of the period from the Russian perspective, demonstrating that Napoleon's defeat in 1812 by the Russian army was just the beginning of what would be the longest military campaign in European history.

"Lieutenant-Colonel Sharpe is a man with a reputation. Born in the gutter, raised a foundling, he joined the army twenty-one years ago, and it's been his home ever since. He's a loose cannon, but his unconventional methods make him a valuable weapon. So when, the dust still settling after the Battle of Waterloo, the Duke of Wellington needs a favour, he turns to Sharpe. For Wellington knows that the end of one war is only the beginning of another....

Recounts the early years of Horatio Hornblower's captaincy, in which the young hero is stretched to the utmost by adventures at home and in the Mediterranean.

Set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars of the late eighteenth century. Emma Hart is a beautiful dance hall girl who is sent by her latest lover to stay with his uncle Sir William Hamilton, the British ambassador to Naples. Sir William considers Emma a rare piece of art he must possess. Sir William introduces Emma to Naples' elite society and she soon marries him. Later, Horatio Nelson, a famous English Naval office arrives. Soon, a scandalous,...

"The year is 1803, and the British Secret Service is contending with a belligerent France under Napoleon. The service suffers a blow in the loss of a prime agent, Thomas Grey, who--despondent at his wife's untimely death--resigns from British Intelligence and departs England for Boston, where he intends to become a lumber merchant. His plan to start a new life is thrown abruptly off course when a French intelligence network attempts to recruit him...

Horatio gets married and then returns to his command to face a French fleet that is preparing for invasion.

In the bitter winter of 1809, the French are winning the war in Spain. Britain's forces are retreating, being hotly pursued by Napoleon's troops. Lieutenant Richard Sharpe and his detachment of riflemen, have been cut off, and are being pursued by an Irishman called Patrick Harper. Sharpe finds an ally in a Spanish cavalry officer, Blas Vivar, and companionship in an English refugee, Louisa Parker.

In the winter of 1811 the war seemed lost. All Spain has fallen to the French, except for Cadiz which is now the Spanish capital and is under siege. Richard Sharpe and his company are part of a small expeditionary force sent to break a bridge across the River Guadiana. What begins as a brilliant piece of soldiering turns into disaster, thanks to the brutal savagery of the French Colonel Vandal who is leading his battalion to join the siege of Cadiz....