Bernard Cornwell: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Bernard Cornwell is a British author whose novels have historical subjects.

He was born in London in 1944. His father was a Canadian airman; his mother English, a member of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. He was given up for adoption and brought up in Essex. He attended the University of London and after graduating worked for BBC Television. Married Judy in 1980 and re-located to her home country, the USA. Unable to get a Green Card, he started writing novels, as this did not require a work permit.

His best-known books feature the adventures of Richard Sharpe, an English soldier, and are set in the Napoleonic era. After writing 12 books detailing adventures set around various European battle campaigns over the course of 12 years, further stories covered Sharpe's earlier years as a young soldier in India. Most of the Napoleonic-era books were filmed for a TV series starring Sean Bean as Sharpe. Further books written subsequently have been slotted in to different parts of Sharpe's timeframe.

Cornwell has also written the Starbuck Chronicles, four novels set during the American Civil War; and the three Warlord Chronicles dealing with Arthurian Britain. His latest series is the Grail Quest novels dealing with a 14th Century search for the Holy Grail.

List of novels

The SHARPE series (in historical date order)

• Sharpe's Tiger
• Sharpe's Triumph
• Sharpe's Fortress
• Sharpe's Trafalgar
• Sharpe's Prey
• Sharpe's Havoc
• Sharpe's Rifles
• Sharpe's Havoc
• Sharpe's Eagle
• Sharpe's Gold
• Sharpe's Escape (April 2004)
• Sharpe's Battle
• Sharpe's Company
• Sharpe's Sword
• Sharpe's Enemy
• Sharpe's Honour
• Sharpe's Regiment
• Sharpe's Siege
• Sharpe's Revenge
• Sharpe's Waterloo
• Sharpe's Devil

The STARBUCK Chronicles

• Rebel
• Copperhead
• Battle Flag
• The Bloody Ground

The WARLORD Chronicles

• The Winter King
• Enemy of God
• Excalibur

The GRAIL QUEST novels

• Harlequin (re-named The Archer's Tale in the USA)
• Vagabond
• Heretic

Other novels

• Redcoat
• Stonehenge
• Gallows Thief
• Scoundrel
• Stormchild
• Sea Lord
• Wildtrack
• Crackdown
• The Last Kingdom (due October 2004)