Richard Sharpe was born in the middle of his own story. Bernard Cornwell published Sharpe's Eagle first in 1981, then spent the next four decades filling in the years on either side, most recently with Sharpe's Storm in 2025. The result is a series whose publication order and chronological order are almost completely unrelated. Here is the full list in the order the events happen, which is how we would read it, plus the case for doing something else entirely.
Editor's Picks
- Sharpe's Eagle - the first one written, and still the best introduction
- Sharpe's Rifles - the natural chronological start to the Peninsular run
- Sharpe's Company - the siege of Badajoz, and the series at full strength
- Sharpe's Waterloo - the one everything else has been building towards
Chronological or published? The honest answer
Chronological order gives you a life: a private in India in 1799, a battlefield commission, twenty years of promotion, disgrace and reinstatement, and an old soldier off the coast of Chile in 1820. It reads beautifully as a whole and it is the order we have listed below.
Publication order gives you something different, which is a writer getting better. The early Peninsular novels are lean and fast. The India trilogy, written seventeen years later, is more considered and considerably more brutal. Read chronologically, you start with mature Cornwell, drop back to his thirties, and then climb again, which some readers find jarring.
Our position: read the first four chronologically, because the India books are genuinely superb and they explain everything about the man. Then simply carry on down the list. The one thing we would avoid is publication order, which puts Waterloo two-thirds of the way through and then spends nine more books going backwards.
Twenty-one years and two continents apart. Chronological order gives you the journey between them.
The four phases of the series
The twenty-four novels fall into four clear blocks. Each block has a different feel and, usefully, each one can be started cold.
India, 1799 to 1805 - how a private becomes an officer
Four novels, written between 1997 and 2001, following Sharpe from the ranks through Seringapatam, Assaye and Gawilghur. Cornwell at his most confident, and the most violent books in the series. Start with Sharpe's Tiger if you want the whole life in sequence.
The Peninsular War, 1809 to 1812 - the heart of it
Ten novels across Portugal and Spain, including the two great sieges and the campaign that made the series' name. This is the core, and it contains the best of the early books. Start with Sharpe's Rifles chronologically, or Sharpe's Eagle if you want the one Cornwell wrote first.
The road to France, 1813 to 1815 - promotion, treason, Waterloo
Six novels in which the war turns and Sharpe is nearly destroyed by his own side. Ends at Waterloo, which Cornwell had been circling for a decade and does not fumble. Start with Sharpe's Regiment, the odd one out, set almost entirely in England.
Afterwards, 1815 to 1821 - the soldier with no war
Two late novels, one written in 1992 and one in 2021, dealing with what a man like Sharpe does when the fighting stops. Slighter than the rest, and best saved for the end. Start with Sharpe's Assassin, set in occupied Paris in the weeks after Waterloo.
Skirmishers in the snow and a fortress that has to be stormed: the two things the series does best.
Eight books, if you are not going to read all twenty-four
These are the ones that hold up on their own. Each can be read cold, and together they cover the whole arc from India to Waterloo.
01Sharpe's Eagle
The first one written, and it shows in the best way: brisk, angry and entirely self-contained. Sharpe, despised by his own officers, sets out to capture a French standard largely out of spite. If you want to try one book and decide, try this one.
02Sharpe's Tiger
Private Sharpe, facing a flogging, volunteers for a suicidal mission into Seringapatam. Written seventeen years into the series and far more assured than the early books, it explains everything about the man who appears later.
03Sharpe's Rifles
Cut off during the retreat to Corunna, a despised quartermaster is left in charge of riflemen who want him dead. The origin of the green jackets and the beginning of the Peninsular run proper.
04Sharpe's Company
The siege of Badajoz, which Cornwell renders as the horror it actually was, with a personal vendetta running through it. The series operating at full strength.
05Sharpe's Sword
A French assassin is hunting Sharpe, and the battle of Salamanca is coming. Tighter plotted than most and with the series' most genuinely frightening antagonist.
06Sharpe's Enemy
Deserters from every army have seized a mountain village and taken hostages. A siege in reverse, and one of the two or three most re-read books in the series.
07Sharpe's Regiment
Sharpe goes home to find out why no replacements are arriving, and discovers a fraud running out of the War Office. Almost no battlefield, and a completely different kind of book. Excellent.
08Sharpe's Waterloo
Three days in June, told at ground level. Cornwell had been building towards this for nine books and the result is the finest thing in the series and one of the best battle novels in English.
The full Sharpe reading order, chronologically
All twenty-four novels in the order the events take place, with the setting and date for each. Publication years are given in the entries above and vary wildly: the list below runs from a book published in 1997 to one published in 1981 within its first six rows. Not included: the dozen or so Sharpe short stories, which are collected separately and are entirely optional.
- 01Sharpe's Tiger1997India, 1799
- 02Sharpe's Triumph1998India, 1803
- 03Sharpe's Fortress1999India, 1803
- 04Sharpe's Trafalgar2000At sea, 1805
- 05Sharpe's Prey2001Copenhagen, 1807
- 06Sharpe's Rifles1988Spain, 1809
- 07Sharpe's Havoc2003Portugal, 1809
- 08Sharpe's Eagle1981Spain, 1809
- 09Sharpe's Gold1981Spain, 1810
- 10Sharpe's Escape2004Portugal, 1810
- 11Sharpe's Fury2007Cadiz, 1811
- 12Sharpe's Battle1995Spain, 1811
- 13Sharpe's Company1982Badajoz, 1812
- 14Sharpe's Command2023Spain, 1812
- 15Sharpe's Sword1983Salamanca, 1812
- 16Sharpe's Enemy1984Spain, 1812
- 17Sharpe's Honour1985Spain, 1813
- 18Sharpe's Regiment1986England, 1813
- 19Sharpe's Storm2025Spain, 1813
- 20Sharpe's Siege1987France, 1814
- 21Sharpe's Revenge1989France, 1814
- 22Sharpe's Waterloo1990Belgium, 1815
- 23Sharpe's Assassin2021France, 1815
- 24Sharpe's Devil1992Chile, 1820
The set-piece and the slog. Cornwell is unusually good at the second, which is why the first lands.
When you finish the twenty-four
Cornwell has written more than sixty novels and the obvious next stop is The Last Kingdom, thirteen books following a Northumbrian warrior through the making of England. Same engine, older war, better prose. We have a full reading order for it.
The Starbuck Chronicles, four novels set in the American Civil War, are the closest thing to Sharpe in a different uniform, and are unfinished. The Warlord Chronicles, his Arthurian trilogy, are the ones Cornwell readers argue is his best work.
If it was the military detail you wanted, the standard recommendations are Patrick O'Brian for the naval equivalent and C.S. Forester's Hornblower for the older, drier version of the same idea.
For the real history underneath, Rory Muir and Charles Esdaile have both written excellent accounts of the Peninsular War, and Cornwell's own Waterloo: The History of Four Days, Three Armies and Three Battles is a straight non-fiction account of the battle he spent a career preparing for.
Frequently Asked Questions
What order should I read the Sharpe books in?
Chronological order, starting with Sharpe's Tiger in India in 1799, gives you Sharpe's life as a continuous story and is what we recommend. Publication order is the alternative and puts Waterloo two-thirds of the way through.
How many Sharpe books are there?
Twenty-four novels, published between 1981 and 2025. There are also a number of short stories, which are collected separately and are not required reading.
Which Sharpe book was written first?
Sharpe's Eagle, published in 1981, and set in Spain in 1809. It sits eighth in chronological order. It remains an excellent place to begin because Cornwell wrote it as a first introduction to the character.
What is the latest Sharpe book?
Sharpe's Storm, published in 2025 and set in Spain in 1813. Like most of the recent additions it slots into a gap in the middle of the chronology rather than continuing forward.
Do I need to read the India books first?
No. They were written seventeen years after the series began and were designed to work as a prequel trilogy for existing readers as well as a starting point for new ones. They are, however, very good.
Are the Sharpe books historically accurate?
The campaigns, battles and dates are real and carefully handled, and each novel ends with a historical note separating fact from invention. Sharpe himself, his regiment's specific actions and most of his opponents are fiction.
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